A thief, a spirit, and a host
by windferret
Summary: Bakura starts havng reoccouring dreams that seem to be telling him something...about himself. One day, a break in resulting in Ryou being injured pushes him over the edge. Will the darkness of 3,000 years ago be reborn? LOTS of shippings! LOTS OF UPDATE
1. Chapter 1

**H****ello there~ This idea has been sloshing around in my head for a while now, but I never really had the creative stab to actually get working on it. Well, this is my favorite story I think that I have ever worked on, even more than the other Really long Yu-Gi-Oh one, 'Two of a certain kind'. **

**I got the idea when I was laying in my hospital bed (AGAIN. I SWEAR, THEY SHOULD JUST RESERVE A ROOM FOR ME! XD) and I started working on it in there. I really would like FLAMERS to avoid being rude. I've gotten so many of those, its not even funny. **

**Im not a professional author, therefore my spelling isn't going to be the best. Give me a break. Any ways, I know I was kinda… O_O MEAN just a second ago. **

**_ I've just become callous because of the flamers. **

**Disclaimer: I NO OWN YUGIOH! :O**

_Prologue_

"_catch him before he gets away!" a brawny man yelled, ordering his goons to chase the figure that danced around the shadows. Their store had been looted for almost all of its worth, which was indeed a large amount. They would see upon entering that almost all of their gold and precious jewels were missing. Who they were deling with though, they would never catch. He was so profoundly crafty, he held a prestigious name. the thief king. But, all of these things happened thousands of years ago. Now, the thief king was a fragment of an evil spirits memories. Ironically, he WAS the evil over time he changed, and now his name was bakura. And so it came to be, that the thief king was apart of Bakuras memories. And those memeories, desperately wanted to be awakened. _

CHAPTER ONE

Crickets chirped loudly outside Ryou's window as he slept. The night was gorgeous, and it was a good evening to have the window and have the gentle breeze roll in.

At least, that's what Ryou thought.

Bakura on the other hand, lay next to his snoozing hikari wide awake and pissed off.

"Ryou, are you awake?" he whispered, peeking over the small rising and falling shoulder, just to see an angelic—and sleeping—face.

He rolled over with a grunt and threw his legs over the side of the huge king sized bed. He recoiled with a hiss when his warm, bare feet touched the freezing cold hardwood floor. Sluggishly, he dragged himself into the darkened hallway and felt around for the light switch.

"Now where the hell are you you stupid thing…?" he muttered, feeling along the length of the wall. As he slid his hands around, he finally felt the small protrusion.

"Ah! There you…you…you are…" He slurred, wave of languor like he had never felt before hitting him. He flicked on the light switch just before hitting the floor.

"Ow..." he groaned, trying to stand. He couldn't. "The hell…?" He said, fluttering his eyelids in confusion. Each time he blinked, it felt like his eyelids were being held down with thousand pound weights. Finally he succumbed to the strange and overwhelming weariness.

Bakura's eyes flew open, and he jumped up quickly. He wasn't in the hallway of his and Ryou's apartment anymore. The only thing he saw was sand. Everything around him was set ablaze, and frantic people were fleeing everywhere. Blood stained small areas, and a powerful feeling of death was upon the small village he found himself in. A woman dashed straight towards him, screaming loudly as a man dressed in a dark robe and gold jewelry was close behind her. The man, who was a palace guard, ran the woman through like butter, dragging the corpse to a flight of stairs and carelessly pulling it behind him like a dog.

Bakura stared wide eyed at the man, following him with his eyes. Did they not see him? No. they must have. It happened right in front of him.

"WHOA!" he exclaimed as he held up his hand. It was ghostly translucent, and to make things even more unbelievable, a man sprinted straight through him, like he didn't exist. He was also killed by a guard and hauled off to the stairwell that had caught bakura's interest moments ago.

"where am I …?" He muttered, walking over to the stairwell, and following a grim faced guard down the secret passageway. Heat hit bakura like a freight train, and the smell of searing flesh made him gag.

The men lobbed the bodies into a huge pot, laughing darkly.

"No! Help mommy! Daddy!" a young girl of about seven screamed, tears rolling down her cheeks.

"You'll be reunited with those dogs in a moment, brat." A guard chuckled, twisting the girls head sharply in an unnatural manner, snapping her neck.

Bakura stifled a yell and felt sick to his stomach. If this was a nightmare, he was ready to wake up this instant. The little girl was tossed into the boiling cauldron too, just like the others.

"Hmph, well that's ninety nine!" A middle aged man snickered, marveling at his bloody masterpiece. "Now the sacrifice is complete…" he said triumphantly, laughing loudly.

Bakura sank down to his knees and clamped his hands over his ears. This place was horrible. The smell of dead bodies nearly smothered him, and he could see restless souls beginning to roam about, swarming around the death trap. He had never seen any of these people before, didn't know them, didn't even know they existed. But for some reason, he felt as if his entire world, and everyone in it had just been abruptly ripped away from him. And that woman he saw, when the hellish nightmare first began…a tug of grief pulled at his heart, as if she were very close to him, like a family member…

He looked up briefly, and stumbled backwards when he noticed a small face peeking from behind a wall. It was a young boy with sun kissed skin and impossibly white hair, just like his own.


	2. Chapter 2

Ryou turned and writhed in his sleep. He opened his eyes a smidge, and ran his hand across where his yami usually sleeps. He opened his eyes completely when he felt that the area was cold and missing a body.

"Bakura?" he groaned, pulling off his blanket and crawling across the large bed to the floor.

He checked the darkened room, and not finding him there, stood puzzled. A small sliver of light shone into the black room and caught the whiteheads attention. He peered around the door and his face lit up when he saw his other half, but it fell just as quickly when he realized he was on the floor.

"Bakura?" he repeated, kneeling down next to him. He reached out and shook his shoulder, mentally preparing himself for the onslaught of profanity that would be thrown at him for waking his darkness. It never came, much to Ryou's worry. "Bakura! Please, come on wake up!" He begged, turning the teen onto his back and cupping his face.

Bakura knelt on the bloodied floor, his hands entangled in his messy white locks. H couldn't do anything. He was a prisoner to this twisted dream.

"stop…" he said, his voice quivering. He couldn't figure out why he was having the visions, But they seemed so real, like he had been through this entire horrible nightmare before. Vaguely did the villagers remind him of a family, one that he knew personally. Vaguely did that petrified little boy remind him of himself. Vague. That's all this was to him.

"Eeek!" Came a high pitched shriek that made bakura's blood run cold.

He whipped his head around to see that the guards had seized the white haired, sun kissed child. He struggled helplessly against the strong , immovable men.

"We have ninety nine already, but one more wouldn't hurt, would it little fella?" Laughed a hooded guard, taking a fistful of snowy white hair and throwing the boy to the ground forcefully.

Bakura couldn't watch anymore. He turned his head as a swift kick was delivered to the boy's side.

"STOP IT!" he shouted.

And just like that, the dream snapped back into his mind and he opened his eyes to see a particularly disturbed Ryou.

"B-bakura, I'm sorry…" ryou said, trembling noticeably.

Bakura sat up quickly, making his hikari flinch backwards. He hadn't meant to scare him. In fact, Bakura was probably the more shaken up of the two of them, but he'd never admit it. He simply put on his character defining, cold and untouchable face.

"What are you doing out of bed?" He asked, narrowing his eyes.

"What am I doing…? You were passed out in the middle of the hallway!" Ryou spat back defensively.

"I was fine. Your going to catch a cold if you stay out here you know. Not that I care or anything." He replied stonily, standing abruptly.

Ryou glared up at his darkness, pink color beginning to make its way onto his cheeks. He stood too, stomping past him and slamming their bedroom door.

"Idiot…" Bakura muttered, not even turning to twist the doorknob which he knew was locked. He made his way into the kitchen, checking the time on the oven. 7:00. It was fair time that his hikari began getting ready for school, but he wanted to keep that little tidbit of information to himself. Serves the brat right for locking the door.

With an annoyed huff of boredom, he stood in front of the curtained window in his living room. He knew he should open it. Ryou didn't really like the dark. But he did, and that's all that mattered to the spirit.

"Wouldn't it be funny to see the little brat scrambling around in the dark…" He mused, smirking at the visual the statement provided.

Losing interest in the covered window, he went to the linen closet and pulled out a pair of black skinny jeans. He always kept extra clothes there just incase he and his hikari got into arguments like this. Gathering up the rest of the clothes he would wear today, he strolled into the bathroom and slipped out of his loosely fit pajamas.

"I'll be damned if he gets any hot water for that stunt he pulled." He chuckled, sticking his head under the showerhead, letting the warm water soothe his stiff neck. Sleeping on the floor wasn't the most comfortable thing he's ever done, and it had painful results. Memories of that horrific nightmare filled his mind, a he shuddered. He didn't want to think about that. He focused his mind on the face his hikari made when he had woken up. He looked so scared….

Bakura sighed and turned off the water before it got cold. It wasn't Ryou's fault for getting upset with him. But he was bakura. And bakura didn't give a damn what other people felt.

Right?

Grumbling at his lack to go with what he said before, he stepped out of the shower and got dressed. Maybe the whelp did deserve a little bit of arm water. He had been worried about him after all…

He regretted not waking said whelp when he opened the door to find him standing there with a dark expression.

"Can you kindly move?" Bakura growled.

"You didn't wake me up! Now im 20 minutes off schedule!"

"How could I have woken you up if I was locked outside of the room?"

Ryou glowered up at him with his lips pressed into a thin line.

"what are you just standing there for? Shouldn't you be getting ready for school?" Bakura snickered, squeezing past his angry light.

He concluded that this was going to be a very, interesting day.

"Have a nice day hikari…" Bakura said with mock sincerity as they neared domino high.

Ryou threw a glare over his shoulder and kept walking.

"Ouch…" Bakura muttered, a mean hearted little smirk still playing on his lips. "Are you…_angry_ with me ryou?" He asked, grabbing his wrist.

" Let go of me." Ryou barked.

"What did I do? " Bakura asked, sounding hurt. This was beginning to be fun.

"I'm going to be late." Ryou said, snatching his hand away and speeding up his already quick pace.

"Im so sorry Ryou, please come back to me?" Bakura said, putting an inflection at the end of his words to make it sound like an offer.

Ryou stopped walking, but kept his back to the spirit.

"Are you being serious?" He asked, turning his head towards bakura slightly.

"Like a heart attack…" Bakura said, his words coming out in an obvious purr.

Ryou's face heated up considerably when he felt bakura's hand slip into his own.

"L-let me go…" Ryou said, his voice strained.

"but ryou, it's cold out here, and I don't have any gloves on like you…" Bakura said, putting his face in the crook of his hikari's neck.

Ryou visibly stiffened when bakura pulled off a warm white and blue striped glove, intertwining his cold fingers with Ryou's.

"That's so much better…now, were you mad at me?" Bakura whispered, his warm breath tickling Ryous ear.

"Let me go, your going to cause a scene!" Ryou hissed. It came out sounding pathetic though, much to Bakura's amuse ment.

"Fine." He said. "As long as you know you can't ignore me forever, Hikari."

Ryou snatched his hand away and blushed an even deeper red when he looked up and saw that a few girls near the front of the school were giggling.

"Bastard…" Ryou spat at Bakura before slumping his shoulders and focusing his attention back on the ground to avoid any further eye contact with the two girls.

"I Love you too baby!" Bakura shouted loudly , making the girls erupt in a fit of laughter and making ryou turn around with a mortified expression before practically sprinting the rest of the way into the school.

"Your going to make them think he's gay." A bored voice came from behind him.

Bakura turned to meet the gaze of ryou's stupid little friends yami. Not the midget one, the annoying sandy blonde one with the psychopath for a dark half.

"He is." He said coldly. "What are _you _doing over here?"

"Dropping off my light. He prefers that I odn't so I just keep a safe distance. You should try doing the same. For the sake of his reputation."

"Ha! What do I care about that little brats reputation? Everyone probably thought he was gay to begin with."

"Hn." Was all the wild haired blonde said before turning towards the school. H e looked distant as hell, and that was bothering the white haired yami.

"What are you staring at? Don't tell me you have a thing for high school girls." Bakura said.

The blonde curled his lip slightly. "No. I'm making sure my light gets into the school in one piece."

"He's on school grounds, I don't think any serial killers are going to be skulking around." Bakura said, with a small smirk.

"Hn. Well, I'm leaving." He said, turning on his heels and striding away.

"Wait."

"_What?"_

"My hikari knows your Hikari, obviously. I've seen you with, what's his name…Marik? I didn't catch your name."

"I never dropped it."

"Don't fuck with me."

"Malik. I already know that you're Bakura. My hikari tells me how much of an ass you are." Malik said, smiling crookedly.

"Well isn't that flattering? I usually get a whole lot more hell from my brat." Bakura sneered, just imagining the big mouthed blonde crying to his big bad yami.

"I can see that…" Malik said before continuing his departure.

Bakura, finally satisfied, made his leave also.

"What did Ryou tell me to do before we left this morning…?" Bakura mused.

_Don't forget to pick up the groceries when your headed home, got it?_

"….Don't feel like it." He concluded, continuing on route back to the warm apartment.

He groaned as he turned to corner onto the less than appealing shortcut through south domino. He never took ryou down this way; he knew that he'd piss his pants.

Bakura always carried a knife with him anyways, but he didn't particularly fancy the area. It was just a quicker way to get home.

Today though, luck wasn't in his favor.

"Hey there," A dirty looking hoodlum asked. He had a nine o'clock shadow and his clothes were filthy. "What's a north side priss like your self doing over here?"

Bakura narrowed his eyes at the man and shoved his hands in his pocket, grasping the knife in his hand, perfectly ready to whip it out and drive it into the mans sternum.

"Going home." He said frigidly.

He almost killed the man on the spot when he grabbed his wrist.

"Let go of me." He growled dangerously.

"Don't be so mean little guy, I only want to be your friend…" The man said, lust apparent in his false statement.

"I'm not in preschool you disgusting filth." Bakura hissed, ripping his hand away.

"Doesn't look like your very far out of it." The man chuckled, seizing his hand again.

Bakura grimaced. He knew that he didn't look like the oldest person in the world. Hell, he barely looked 18. And he hated every waking moment of it. Leave it to him to get the most girlish looking fragile excuse for a boy as a light.

"Piss off." Bakura snarled, finally letting his knife, sharp and ominous, get a taste of sunlight. He snatched his hand away a second time, making sure the blade was visible in his other clenched fist.

"Aww…you don't have to pull a knife on me kid, I was just being friendly…" the lecherous punk said, backing off a little. He straightened up though, standing tall. "Don't let me see your face on the south side again, wretch."

Bakura was beyond pissed off by then.

"Aw, is the big bad pedophile angry because he didn't get anything from the cute little boy?" He said, bristling at the thought of Ryou ending up in this same situation.

"Don't push my limits brat. You don't know me."

"Funny, I could say the same…"

With that last comment, he skulked off, turning around and deciding to take the longer, more pleasant way home through north domino.

"This won't be the last you hear of Tsukoshi hatsumoto! You messed with the wrong guy!" The brazen man shouted at bakura.

It fell upon deaf ears.

**Hmmm, well, I'm making an effort to try and update maybe every week or so…**

**Anyways, Bakura looks like he's gotten himself in a bit of trouble! **

**_ figures. **

**Yes, please excuse any grammatical errors, I was in a crunch for time because I had family over so I have no time to myself *dies* **

**PLEASE, REVIEW. IM TRYING TO GET AT LEAST 5 FOR THIS CHAPTER! **


	3. Chapter 3

**Hola~ well, yeah, its been more than a week or so, haha. Couple in school and everything, I didn't have much time to type! ^ ^; in fact this chapter was typed during school during my lunch break. ANYHOODLES, I had another asthma attack D: FAIL! **

**But yeah, enjoy this next chapter **** PLEASE REVIEW IF YOU HIT OR SEE OR EVEN JUST READ THE FIRST CHAPTER! TELL ME ANYTHING! DX**

Chapter 3

"Hey cut it out you!" Ryou giggled as Marik smeared brownie batter on his face.

"Never! Screw baking! This is way more fun!" Marik cheered, dabbing the sweet mixture on his own face. The two hikaris had gotten out of school early, on account of a few inches of snow earning them a two hour early release. With nothing better to do, they decided they were going to have some fun, uninterrupted by their brooding yamis.

"Were supposed to _bake _it Marik— don't you dare eat that batter!" Ryou scolded when Marik took a heaping spoonful and was about to stick it in his mouth. Marik frowned, but then an idea popped into his head and he couldn't help but smirk.

"What're you smiling about?" Ryou asked, taking a step back and eyeing the full spoon in the Egyptians hand.

"Oh nothing… just this!" he yelled as he took the entire bowl and flung its contents at Ryou.

"Eeek!" Ryou screamed, ribbons of batter pooling at his feet as it dripped from his body. "Marik I'm gonna kill you!"

"Come get me batter ass!" Marik teased, turning to run. "WAH!" he yelled, slipping on a stray puddle of batter that had dropped from the spoon. "Ouch…" he groaned, sticking his tongue out at Ryou, who was doubled over in laughter.

"Yeah whatever, laugh while you can! But it will be _me_ with the last laugh because this isn't _my_ kitchen!" Marik pointed out, smirking when realization struck the white haired hikaris face.

"You're not gonna clean?" Ryou asked incredulously.

"Nope." Marik said, crossing his arms defiantly and smiling victoriously.

"And that's where you're wrong." Came a chillingly familiar voice that made both hikaris blood freeze. Marik turned his head slowly and met the crimson eyes of his best friend's yami.

"Er…hey there Bakura…" Marik said, shrinking down a little when all he received was a narrowing of the eyes.

"What the hell happened in here, and why aren't you in school?" He demanded, pointing at the various smears of chocolate on the tiled floor.

Both hikaris looked up at him pitifully, eyes widened. He could've swore he saw Marik trembling.

"WELL?" he yelled, putting his hands on his thin hips, making Marik grasp Ryou's arm. Ryou looked just as scared, gripping the other teens arm also.

"Well, there's no reason to yell at the poor things." A smooth voice said, surprising everyone in the kitchen. Malik stepped in the door, a bored expression on his face.

"How'd you get in here?" Bakura asked, looking at the blonde yami suspiciously.

"Where else?"

"I locked the door when I came in."

"Why does that matter?" Malik said, a slight smile playing on his lips.

Bakura glared at him before turning back to Ryou and Marik, who were still clasped onto each other.

"Don't scream at them, they might get scared." Malik added behind the spirit.

"You two…" He began. "Need to clean this mess up."

Ryou and Marik looked at each other with their jaws slack.

"Malik…How the heck did you do that?" Marik asked.

Malik just looked back at his Hikari with the same apathetic expression and turned to leave, when Bakura put a hand on his shoulder.

"What is it?" He asked, tensing at the sudden contact.

"Next time knock you asshole."

Malik shrugged off Bakura's hand with a smile. "What an underhanded invitation into your home on a later occasion…"

Bakura just crossed his arms and a tinge of pink crawled across his face. Ryou and Marik giggled, beaming with happiness.

"So does that mean you guys are friends?" Ryou asked.

Bakura blushed even harder. "No, I don't _need_ friends."

" That strikes me as a yes, little one." Malik said before he strolled out of the door.

"See ya!" Marik called as he closed the apartment door softly, his shouts for his yami to wait echoing throughout the corridors of the building.

Bakura rolled his eyes and looked down at his Hikari, who was tracing circles aimlessly in the chocolate.

"Aren't you going to clean that up?"

"Hm? Oh, yeah…" He groaned, crestfallen.

Bakura sighed and knelt down beside him.

"I didn't say you had to do it alone you know." He said, licking a small spot of chocolate off of Ryou's cheek.

"Really? Y-you'll help?" Ryou stuttered, blushing.

"Yeah, I guess. Don't blame me if I create some kind of nuclear meltdown because I mix chemicals or something though." He scoffed, running a hand through his wild hair, standing and opening the cabinet to start the long process of cleaning the kitchen.

Bakura huffed and plopped down on the couch. Lately he'd been feeling weaker than usual, and the reason why was a bit of a mystery to him. Ryou, who was seated on the loveseat across the room, looked at him with concern.

Ever since he found Bakura lying in the hallway he'd been a little more attentive to when the yami's usual attitude was off.

"Bakura, are you feeling sick?" He asked quietly.

"No, I'm just a little dizzy…I'm just going to go to sleep early tonight." He replied, heaving himself up and staggering down the hall to their bedroom. Ryou watched after him until he closed the door, then switched on the TV to buy himself some time before he himself got tired.

"Three men evading arrest," Droned an anchorman. "For armed robbery and arson."

Ryou watched, interested.

"Hey Ryou, can you come here a sec—"

"Shh Kura, I'm trying to watch." Ryou said, hushing his darker half.

"Earlier this evening, a bright blaze was put out by firefighters in south domino. Authorities say this fire was caused intentionally, and fingerprints have been recovered from the scene of the crime. If you have any whereabouts on these two men, please contact the police. Their names are Tsukoshi Matsumoto and –"

Bakura switched the TV off, throwing the remote across the room.

"Hey! I was watching that!" Ryou shouted.

"I don't care. I don't want you watching stuff like that."

"What am I, four? I can't watch the news?'

"Not the evening news."

"Ugh, you're impossible sometimes!" He said, grabbing the remote and turning the Television back on. "Oh man, I missed the rest of it!" He complained, pouting.

Bakura stalked off silently back into the bedroom and slammed the door that being the only noise the spirit made.

"He is so confusing sometimes…" Ryou groaned, reluctantly turning the TV back off again and shutting off all the lights. A part of him was a little bothered by the fact that the police hadn't caught the two men yet, but he shook that thought off as he walked down the hall and peeked into his bedroom.

The room was still illuminated by a small desk lamp, and he noticed Bakura curled up tightly in the sheets, his face rather pallid. That caught Ryou's attention. He climbed across the bed and shook his yami's shoulder.

"Hey, do you think I should make a doctor's appointment for you?" he suggested.

"I don't need a doctor…" He groaned, turning to face his lighter half. '_What I_ _REALLY need is an exorcist…_' He thought, but he refrained from thinking back on the harrowing night that left him terrified.

He couldn't keep his eyes open, as much as he didn't want to go to sleep. He knew if he slipped into a dream he ran the chance of being brought back to that horrendous slaughter. He had been wondering though, if he was having the nightmares for a reason.

He knew it was going to come back to bite him later, but he asked anyways.

"Hikari, is it possible for me to be the host of another spirit?"

The question caught Ryou off guard.

"Why…why do you ask? Is that even possible?"

"That's why I asked you." Bakura replied, trying to rub away weariness from his eyes.

Ryou sat with his legs crossed, his hand on his chin in a concentrated fashion, Bakura eyeing him curiously.

"Well," he began. "It might be possible that you have a suppressed portion of yourself that's still inside the millennium ring…Bakura?" Ryou asked, noticing the dark spirit staring at him with a relatively frightened expression, which rarely occurred.

"Oh come now, don't tell me you actually think—"

"Yes Ryou, I think that's what's going on!" He spat, glaring at him and storming out of the bedroom. Ryou scoffed and rolled his eyes.

"You don't have to be so mean!" he shouted at the closed door, which had been slammed.

When a sharp reply didn't come from the other side, he opened the door just a crack to look out into the dark apartment.

"Oh not this again..." he muttered as he felt around in the dark, taking careful steps.

"OOF!" He yelped as he tripped over something warm. "Bakura, why the heck are you on the floor?" He scolded.

"Bakura?" A deep voice said with a chuckle. Ryou's blood ran cold as he watched a large shadow loom over him.

"That must be his little boyfriend's name." another booming voice grunted as the lights were switched on. A tall, stalwart man smiled down at Ryou, who was now trembling in a corner. He was about six foot eight, much taller than the petrified teen, and had a messy unshaved face.

"Tsukoshi matsumoto, nice to meet you." He snickered, licking his lips.

Ryou stared up at him in wide eyed terror. He recognized the two men immediately as the vigilantes from the news.

"Hey kenshi," Tsukoshi called over his shoulder. "You think I should teach this little guy a lesson?"

The one Ryou presumed to be kenshi smiled crookedly.

"Yeah, go for it man. Doesn't seem like he'd put up much of a fight."

Ryou's breathing quickened when he figured out what they were suggesting.

"Hey kenshi, what happened to that other little twerp I saw? I got into it with him earlier today. The little bastard pulled a knife on me though."

"The mean looking one? Right here boss." He replied, dragging Bakura up by the hair. "We found him on the floor passed out not too far from the door remember?"

Bakura's face was red and he looked oblivious to what was occurring, spared by sleep. Ryou's eyes started to water, his expression on of confusion, fear, and frustration. Why were these criminals in his apartment? And how…how on earth could Bakura be asleep during this all?

Tsukoshi's gruff voice interrupted his thoughts.

"I'm gonna have fun with you kid."

"No…no!" Ryou pleaded as the man crept closer to him. He was stuck in the corner like an animal. He had nowhere to run.

"Drop fluffy over there and join in kenshi." Tsukoshi demanded, running his finger along Ryou's chin and breathing heavily. Kenshi did exactly that and let go of Bakura, letting him drop to the floor.

"STOP!" Ryou shrieked, kicking and flailing when a hand slid up his shirt, another snaking its way into his pants. His efforts were useless on two people at once. He would shake one off, but the other would come back just as ravenous.

"Bakura!" he cried, tears slipping down his flushed cheeks. Bakura lay on the carpet, completely unconscious.

"Bakura!"

Bakura opened his eyes to thousands of people crowded together, yelling loudly. He looked around in confusion, wondering what the fuss was about. Then a wave of panic surged through him. He remembered collapsing on the floor, weakened beyond belief. He also remembered seeing Tsukoshi and a second thug kick the door in before he finally surrendered to sleep.

And here he was, trapped in his own troubled mind. He knew by now that whenever this happened he had no control over his body, which was basically rendered useless when he fell into his subconscious, and the very thought of that lecherous pervert in the same place as Ryou made his blood boil.

"There he is!" a woman cheered, pointing to a balcony. A young boy stepped out, wearing luxurious jewelry and clothing. Bakura felt a faint pang of raw hatred pluck at his nerves. He knew nothing about the young Egyptian except that some part; some dormant part of him loathed his very existence. The boy raised his hand awkwardly, making everyone drop to the ground and bow. All except for Bakura, who wasn't visible to them to begin with and glared up at him with malice. He stormed away from the celebration and stalked off into a shaded alley, a partial shelter from the sweltering sunlight. He sat on a crate and sighed, closing his eyes and desperately wanting to be in his own home again to protect his Hikari. Opening his eyes again, he found himself staring straight into a pair of heliotrope ones.

"What the—'

His voice was cut off when the hooded figure seized him by the throat. His vision swam, and he clawed at his attacker, who had a vice like hold on his neck. A laugh that sounded hauntingly familiar to his own rolled out of the assailant's throat, silken and cold. Bakura went limp from lack of oxygen. How was this person even touching him? All of the other people ran through him like mist in the morning, but this man…

"Scared?" Came that chillingly proverbial sound, much too similar to his own voice.

"Who are you?" Bakura asked, slightly afraid of the answer he might receive, even though he had no idea what to expect.

"You should know." Came the childlike hum of the stranger.

"Why should I?" Bakura demanded, grabbing once again at the man's hands.

"You remember…" he crooned.

"Tell me already!"

He simply huffed, sliding his hood off. Bakura's eyes widened. His eyes were a striking amethyst, and his hair was as white as the moon itself. He had sun kissed skin and a slightly feminine appearance to his face, masked over by apparently male features.

"You're that kid!" Bakura shouted, taking in a gasp which stung his throat.

"_You're_ that kid."

"What happened in that village? How did you manage to escape…what happened?" Bakura asked, ignoring the comment made by the now teenaged child he saw in his last nightmare. He ran his fingers along the jagged scar that covered his entire cheek. Noticing he had reached out and touched the stranger, he drew his hand back quickly, blush crawling across his face.

"You know already." He said, his voice harder than before. He let go of Bakura, watching him with a small frown on his face as he coughed and took in deep breaths. "You remember. Look into yourself and you'll see." He said before he stepped into a dark corner of the alley.

"Wait a second!" Bakura called out, reaching out to him in the blackness. When his hands met nothing but a cold wisp of air, which he disregarded as a breeze, he stood puzzled.

"It's time to wake up, Bakura…" Came the boy's voice, echoing in Bakura's head, a ghostly smoothness to it.

"Quick, let's get outta here!" kenshi said, rushing out of the door and buckling his belt.

Tsukoshi grabbed a bag of the two teen's belongings, halting before he fled.

"You utter a WORD to the cops, or that waste of oxygen on the floor over there, and we'll be back for more than just your sweet ass." He said, jabbing a finger at Ryou's bottom.

Ryou stared at him with tired, bloodshot eyes. Nodding his head weakly, tears stung his eyes as he cradled himself, wincing as his hands brushed across a bruise.

With that, the two men dashed out of the disheveled apartment, leaving Ryou to tremble in the darkness. He sobbed softly, hoisting himself off of the couch with the help of an end table and leaned against the wall, his strength waning with every choked cry he let escape his mouth.

"Bakura…" He said, his voice barely audible. He limped over to him, a flicker of hope showing in his face as the spirit began to stir.

"Ryou?" He groaned drowsily, reaching out into the inky darkness.

"I'm right here yami…" He answered, intertwining his fingers in Bakura's and putting tremendous effort into talking with a steady voice.

"Are you alright?" He asked, panic lying under the serious tone of his question.

"Why of course, why wouldn't I be? Come now, let's go to sleep…" Ryou said, his voice cracking slightly. He pulled Bakura up and placed his hand in the others, guiding him through the hallway and into their bedroom without so much as glancing over at a light switch. He knew that if Bakura saw him, he'd be discovered. Even though he had an even greater reason to be afraid of the dark, right now he used it as his ally.

"Didn't…wasn't someone in—"

"No. Hush and sleep." Ryou interjected stonily. He wasn't going to let Bakura know about what happened. Not yet. He was already having problems of his own, and he didn't need rape added to one of his stressors.

Bakura did as he was told, climbing into bed uneasily. He swore he saw Tsukoshi…

Without so much as a sound he shoved past Ryou and flicked on the bedroom light. Ryou's eyes widened when he did so, and he quickly ducked under the sheets, facing away from Bakura.

"Ryou?" Bakura said, gripping his shoulder.

"Ouch!" Ryou yelped. He clamped his hands over his mouth, immediately regretting his painful shout. Bakura tore the sheets off of him, nearly screaming at the sight.

"Stop it!" Ryou squealed, trying to cover himself again. It was too late though. Bakura's face went blank and he had to hold onto the bed frame for support. Ryou's pajama top was torn at the collar, and his pants were hanging precariously on his waist, for they had been obviously stretched by greedy, wanting hands.

"What is this?" Bakura asked, his voice shaky.

"Nothing." Ryou answered, hugging himself to protect his body from Bakura's knowing eyes.

"What the hell IS this?" He roared, slamming Ryou into the mattress by his wrist and pinning him down.

"Ouch let me go!" Ryou whimpered, trying to struggle out of his grasp.

Bakura nearly wretched when he saw a bruise on his hikari's neck, followed by another on his collar bone. He looked at his own hands as they held Ryou's tiny wrists together and noticed more dark marks, indicating that he had been held down before now.

He lifted Ryou's shirt slowly, his eyes widening as he came across more of the disgusting blotches on his once milky torso.

"They were here weren't they? Tsukoshi and the other bastard."

"Wh-what are you saying? No one was here." Ryou lied.

"Don't toy with me Ryou…" He hissed venomously, squeezing his wrists until he cried out.

"I wasn't supposed to tell anyone! Please stop Bakura that hurts!" Ryou pleaded, a fresh torrent of hot tears streaming down his face.

Bakura released him, getting off the bed abruptly and pacing around the room.

"Bakura, please…"

"I'll kill them."

"Stop it!"

"No _you _stop it! Shut the hell up Ryou, just shut up!" He screamed. He was absolutely furious. He stomped down the hallway, muttering spiteful words as he flung open the closet door, grabbing his black coat off of its hanger and putting on a pair of sneakers.

"What are you doing?" Ryou asked, staggering out into the now illuminated hallway and leaning against a wall.

"The fuck does it look like you idiot?"

"Don't talk to me like that! You don't think I'm going to let you out of my sight do you?"

"I let you out of _mine _ and look what happened!"

"Bakura—"

"You're not changing my mind. I'm going to make sure that prick see's the light of day no more…" He said darkly, a sinister smirk playing on his lips as he gazed at the hilt of his knife in his hand.

"No…you can't!" Ryou cried hysterically.

"Who touched you first?"

"I'm not telling you—"

"Tell me now or you'll regret even waking up this morning."

Ryou was taken back. His yami hadn't threatened him in a very long time, and it frightened him a bit.

"The tall man…I think his name was—"

"Tsukoshi? Hm." Bakura scoffed, smiling widely again. He rifled through the closet, and chuckled darkly when his fingers met something cool.

"I've been waiting a long time to use this again…" He snickered, pulling the millennium ring out and stroking it lovingly.

"You're going to—"

"Yes, my little angel, yes…"

"Please please Bakura don't he doesn't deserve to die that way—"

"Yes he does. He deserves every last bit of it. I will not lose you to some foolish mortal. This ends now." Bakura said, his voice hash and threatening.

He walked briskly through the apartment and slid outside into the cold unforgiving night, a murderous glint in his crimson eyes.

"_Tonight were going to taste blood, Bakura?"_ came an excited voice from inside his head. Bakura blinked twice before continuing towards south domino, dismissing the sound as nothing but a stray thought.

What he didn't know was that he was just feeding the darkness what it wanted. Hatred. Murder. Everything it needed to be reawakened.

**Well, there you go. Chapter three is finally up! Fitst of all I'd like to thank everyone that has reviewed. You really make me happy when you give me feedback you endangered species you! Secondly, I'd like to apologize for such a delayed update. I was procrastinating because I didn't feel like typing such a long chapter o_O But now its done! VICTORY! It took me all of two days though because im on punishment so I have lots of extra free time…eheh…FAIL. **

**But yes, I worked pretty hard on this chapter and I skipped dinner and stayed up late on a school night TWICE for you people! Review so I can get some nourishment! **


	4. Chapter 4

**I am sooo sorry… I'm a horrible person. It's been forever since I've updated. Again. This time though, it was because of SCHOOL! I WASN'T BEING LAZY! **

**I also had kind of a hard time trying to figure out what to do. *COUGH WRITERS BLOCK COUGH* well, I sincerely hope you don't stop reading the story if you find that this chapter is a crock of cow pie o_o **

**And thank you sooo flip flopping MUCH for EVERYONE THAT REVIEWED! And all of the people that even HIT the story, because I was checking my traffic and noticed that there was like….a thousand. *HAPPY SPASM!* keep hitting and reviewing and letting me know that you're alive, because it really does keep me going with the story :D**

**ANYHOODLES! Ignore the strange spacing of this little pre-story thingamabobber, I've been texting a lot lately so my formatting with word is uber crap….FAIL. **

**But yes, enjoy this chapter as much as you possibly can! Thank youuuu~**

_**Chapter 4**_

Bakura pulled his jacket closer to his body, trying to preserve any warmth he could. It may not have been his best idea, storming out of the house in nothing but his thin pajamas. It didn't matter to him at the moment though. What mattered to him was how exactly he was going to find the men who victimized his hikari.

South domino was a vile place, hookers propped up in doorways with every corner you turned. They whistled and hooted at Bakura, who in turn simply shot them a cold glare and continued on his way, wherever that was. Rundown apartment buildings loomed overhead ominously, loud music leaking from their windows and ringing in the spirits ears.

A sickly cat mewled at him from near a trash can, approaching him slowly and begging for food. Bakura curled his lip at the small thing and shooed it away with a sweep of his leg. Shattered beer bottles decorated the cracked sidewalks, crunching noisily under his sneakers.

The smell of alcohol hung heavily in the air as he passed a nightclub, its windows completely blacked out. The bright neon sign read "Orchid capital" and flashed annoyingly. South domino was notorious for its nightlife, parties raging on for hours into the daylight, its patrons and guests stumbling home at nearly six in the morning. Tonight was a such a night for clubbing, for the air was crisp and cool, and there was a comfortable breeze blowing about.

"Hey! What you doin' out here all alone cutey?" a feminine voice called, making Bakura stiffen slightly. The voice had come from the direction of the club he had just passed, and he wasn't too excited to hear it.

"Walking." He said, glancing back at her and slowing slightly.

"Well the party is inside sugar, why don't you come in? I can get you in for free if you'd like…" she said, placing a hand on his shoulder, which he promptly shook off.

"I don't want to go anywhere near that disgusting trap!" he hissed, making the girl flinch a little.

"This guy causin' you problems?" A booming voice asked out of nowhere. A tall shadow towered over Bakura like a high-rise building and made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. He spun around and nearly bumped into a tall and rather cumbersome man dressed in black pants and a tight black shirt.

"Who wants to know?" Bakura challenged, crossing his arms and putting on his trademark smirk.

"Bouncer to Orchid Capital. Are ya in, or are ya out?" He demanded.

"He's in butch, I was just softening him up is all." The girl said quickly, grabbing bakura's arm and hugging it close to her chest.

"GET OFF—"

"well if mimi says you can come in, then I guess your alright…" Butch grunted, turning his back on the two and proceeding to stand watch by the door.

Bakura stared at the girl incredulously. She smiled shyly at him, leading him into the noisy club. Bakura looked around in slight awe, regaining his composure when he heard the parasite attached to his arm giggle.

"Why the hell did you take me in here?" Bakura asked, snatching his arm away and glancing around in suspicion.

"I wanted you to have a good time is all! No worries baby face, just grab a drink and blend in."

"I'm not looking for a _good time_, I want to leave. This is like kidnapping." He said, running a hand through his long white hair.

"What's up with your attitude? Are you always so rude to a lady?" she laughed, touching his arm once again. At this point, Bakura thought it normal for her to be so touchy-feely, as annoying as it was. She smiled widely at him, leading him into a seating booth. He honestly didn't want to sit on any of the furniture in the nightclub, because he was sure they weren't the most sanitary things. He shifted uncomfortably and rested his elbows on the table in front of him. How was he going to find these guys in such a big place, let alone at night? If Tsukoshi had a millennium item, then it would be as simple as pulling out his ring and letting it take him to him. But it wasn't that simple. Tsukoshi was a mortal among thousands, and all of them looked the same to Bakura.

"So what's on your mind?" Mimi asked, hugging bakura, much to his annoyance.

"Looking for someone. And will you lay off? It's going to be difficult getting the smell out of my jacket."

" Y'know, I did you a favor by taking you in here. You don't even look old enough to be in a club."

Bakura glared at her and scooted as close to the booth wall as he could. It was uncomfortable, but at least it wasn't some busty club whore.

" Who are you looking for?" She pried, putting her hand on his.

"What's it to you?" he said. He didn't even feel like moving his hand away from hers, because he was pretty sure that she would find some other way to invade his personal space.

"Well maybe I know the guy. I get around honey." She said, winking and squeezing his hand lightly.

Bakura pondered this for a moment, wondering if he should trust this woman he just met. He honestly had no idea where he'd be able to find Tsukoshi, and if this girl really did know him, then this was his only chance.

"Do you know—"

"Yo Mimi! Who's that over there?" A manly voice bellowed, grabbing bakura's attention immediately.

"Just another customer. He's from the north side." She replied, smiling and gripping bakura's hand once more. Bakura snatched his hand away from hers with a growl and stood abruptly.

"You," He began. Do you know Tsukoshi?"

"Who do you think you are callin my boss by his first name?" the man replied, stepping towards Bakura.

"Shut the hell up and answer me."

That did it. The man's face went beet red with fury and he lifted Bakura up by the collar of his coat, slamming him into a nearby wall.

"You need to learn some respect kid, before I beat it into ya!" He shouted, shaking Bakura around violently.

"Get off of me you worthless imbecile!" Bakura hollered, swinging his leg forcefully into his attackers side.

"What the hell is going on in here—Bakura?" Another masculine voice chuckled, pulling his lackey off of the white haired teen and lifting Bakura off of the floor.

"How ya been buddy? Finally come to apologize to me?" Tsukoshi said, simply laughing when Bakura nearly wretched at the contact he was making with him.

"Yes, actually. May we please talk somewhere more…private?" He suggested in a deceptively sweet voice. If he was going to get the guy alone long enough to kill him, he needed to put up an act.

"Ohoho, well now. Seems like you really want the massive matsumoto eh?" Tsukoshi laughed, putting an arm around bakura's waist and pulling him closer.

"But boss, he just—"

"You're fired." Tsukoshi said, flicking his wrist at his former partner dismissively.

"But boss!"

"Y-yes Mr. Tsukoshi sir, can he come along too? I'd really like it if he did…" Bakura purred, for he had also seen him in the apartment accompanying Tsukoshi.

"Well you heard the kid, tag along." Tsukoshi breathed, running his fingers along the elastic of bakura's boxers. He nearly lost it and killed them on the spot, but he regained his composure and chose to blush instead.

The three of them cut through the nightclub, Tsukoshi holding Bakura close to his body so that he wouldn't be swept away in the crowd of dancing clubbers, or taken away for that matter. Being so close to the person that hurt his hikari was making his blood boil in fury, and his heart race in anticipation. The millennium ring felt like it was pulsating in his pocket, eager to swallow another soul and regurgitate it into the shadows.

"Hey," Kenshi started, distracting Bakura from his thoughts. "Did you bring any…you know, stuff?"

"Yeah, of course. I knew this little bastard would come to me sooner or later, so im always prepared." Tsukoshi answered, opening the back door to the nightclub. The cool night air was very refreshing, seeing that they had been shut in a building with hundreds of people's body heat.

"Where are we going—" Bakura started, but his sentence was cut off with kenshi's mouth on his. Soon after Tsukoshi's hand was already in bakura's pants, gripping and grabbing at everything he could get his fingers around.

He had to admit, it was very overwhelming, with all of the stimulation going on. He wasn't expecting the two to be so vivacious. A small gasp escaped his mouth, and he cursed himself for it. His body was reacting to them, and it absolutely disgusted him. He felt his mind get cloludy, and he started panicking a little.

"not now…!" He murmured aloud.

His eyelids felt heavy and his hold on his control was slipping away. This was the absolute worse time for him to decide to pass out, with these disgusting beasts in his pants.

"Alright kenshi, get a spot ready in the back of the alley while I get him ready—hey, kid?" Tsukoshi asked, tapping bakura's cheek. His eyes were nearly closed, and he was sliding down the wall.

"Tsukoshi?" Kenshi asked, wondering why they weren't having their way with the pale teen as of yet.

"Ugh…" Bakura groaned, finally slipping unconscious and sliding down the wall until he sat limply on the cold ground.

Bakura snapped his eyes open as soon as he felt himself settle into his dreams. Searching around frantically, he needed to find a way out of this place before he became a victim, just like his hikari. This time he found himself in the same village that had been attacked when his episodes first began. This time though, there was nothing but smoldering piles of rubble and roaming spirits that were eerily silent as they drifted about, clustering in some areas. The sight saddened him once more, confusing him also. It wasn't like he had any attachment to the fallen villagers or the twisted black piles of the remains of their homes. He began wandering about the desolated wasteland, walking around aimlessly. The stairway that the palace guard mercilessly dragged a woman down had the most spirits swarming around it, and Bakura found himself strangely drawn to the same area. He didn't try to resist the nagging pull that attracted him; instead he just let himself be taken.

He walked slowly down the stairs, feeling the stony walls around it for some sort of support. It no longer smelt of death, and the horrific sound of sizzling and popping skin no longer echoed in the halls. Instead, the smell was replaced by a dank and moldy scent that hang heavily in the air, and the only sounds were that of bakura's footsteps echoing about, and his hushed breathing. It was dark, but it wasn't difficult to see. All that lay in the middle of the room was the same pot that the bodies had been thrown into, and a few unlit torches decorated the walls. Curious, bakura stepped closer to the cauldron.

"Ugh…" He said aloud, seeing all of the skeletons heaped into a large mess of bones.

"Come to pay your respects?" A voice chuckled, making bakura turn his head so quickly he nearly got whiplash.

"It's you again…" Bakura growled, glaring at the white haired visitor. He slackened his leer just a bit to analyze him, taking in the way that he appeared this time. He still had the feminine and childish face as always, but he had a slight and muscular frame, and bakura could see a toned torso under the scarlet robe he wore. It was too large for him, the sleeves hanging loosely by his sides and completely hiding his hands. He wore a navy blue kilt and his ankles were adorned in golden jewelry, catching the light and making it dance on the walls around him.

"What do you want?" Bakura demanded, crossing his arms and grimacing slightly when he noticed the boy do the same thing.

"That's what I should be asking you…" He replied, stepping into the shadows. Unlike the other various items displaced about the room, bakura couldn't find the strange teen at all. It was like he had merged with the darkness himself. Just as he was about to make his way out of the room and back into the warmth of the sun, the area surrounding him suddenly had a steep drop in temperature. Bakura flinched and yelped loudly when the mysterious stranger appeared right behind him, placing his head in the crook of his neck.

His hands slipped around his waist and rested on his abdomen lightly, as if he wasn't even there.

"Now, I'd like for you to explain why you are intruding in my home…" The boy whispered, his breath tickling bakura's ear.

"Who are you…?" Bakura asked quietly, feeling even more sluggish now th

at the stranger was close to him. Now bakura was almost certain that he was the cause of his problems, for whenever he appeared things either got much better, or much worse.

"I've told you before… look into yourself to find the answer, and the answer will be set free."

" What the hell does that mean? Listen you, you better give me some information or I'll beat it outta ya!" Bakura shouted, snatching out of the embrace. For a moment, the Egyptian looked hurt, but the expression was replaced with a wide grin.

"You seem like such a cold person…tell me, do you remember anything of your past?"

Bakura glared at him scathingly, growling in reply.

"I Guess that's a no… such a shame, no?" He sighed, actually looking genuinely disappointed. Stepping closer to bakura, he stared him down like a lion to a gazelle, before grabbing a fistful of his long snowy hair and pulling sharply.

"AH!" Bakura shouted, automatically bending backwards.

"Huh, seems as if this small set back hasn't even changed… it's been 3,000 years too. How amusing…" The boy purred, ghosting his hands along bakura's throat and making him gasp sharply. Bakura hissed and protested, but there wasn't much he could do when he was bent backwards.

"Seeing as we are both in danger at the moment, I shall relinquish you. Do not disappoint me, shadow. I no longer wish to wander the realms of darkness any longer…give me a taste of the new world, hm?" The boy sighed, releasing his grip on bakuras hair and slipping out of sight once more

**UGH, ok im sorry for such a short crappy half assed chapter. Please don't stop reading it, I know this chapter was horrible but I wanted to post one because it had been two months since I updated **** The next chapter will be longer and more exciting, and the whole knife and alleyway thing will start making sense right off the bat in the next chapter! I've been extreme busy when I wanted to type it, because I had cheerleading, and district band and a math exam and lots of other school related things going on… don't worry im not discontinuing the story! And just to tell you, on April 9****th**** I have my cheerleading competition and were going on a road trip, but I will definitely get started on the next chapter starting Thursday of THIS WEEK. I don't know when I'll have it up though… reviews are greatly appreciated in such a stressful time~ thank you all who reviewed, you hold a dear place in my heart **


	5. Chapter 5

**Hi again! Well, this chapter, im taking a bit of a different approach to things. Since most of the previous chapters have been about mostly Bakura, I was thinking that "hey, maybe ryou and the other characters should get a chapter eh?" sooooo, I really want to try and incorporate Ryou Marik and Malik in this chapter, and maybe even a little bit of Yugi and Yami. AND JUST A FAIR WARNING, TSUKOSHI AND KENSHI ARE BEING COMPLETE AND UTTER PEDO BEARS AT THE START OF THE CHAPTER. Trust me, I cant wait to be done with these guys o_o This chapter though is when they start creepin it up, so prepare yourselves e_e **

**Enjoy please! And PLEASE, review. Honestly, im losing my writing mojo because I only got like 2 reviews for last chapter. All of you people who have it on Alert and stuff, PLEASE REVIEW! Like, I don't even care if you're just begging me to update it. ANYTHING WILL DO!**

"Drag him over here kenshi, start undoing his bottoms." Tsukoshi whispered, unbuttoning his own shirt. By now he was hot and ready, and he didn't care if Bakura wasn't awake. That meant less of a fight. He had been waiting for this moment, where he could finally have a taste of the eye candy that had been eluding him for all this time. It would be great. Possibly even better than his flimsy boyfriend that he had taken the liberty of pleasuring. He smirked slightly as he remembered the boy's strained voice as he begged them to stop their doings, panting and writhing as they did so.

"I imagine his taste is going to be even sweeter than the last, kenshi my man." Tsukoshi chuckled, tracing his finger along the pale teen's cheek. It was warm and soft, just like he had imagined it. Licking his lips in anticipation, he deftly slid his hands up bakura's shirt, lifting it over his head and exposing his creamily pale torso. Kenshi's eyes flicked over to his own pants, which were beginning to get tighter with each second he drank in the white heads body.

"First dibs…" Tsukoshi said, placing his mouth on one of the pink buds on Bakura's chest. Instinctively, Bakura's body reacted slightly, and he let out a small sigh. Tsukoshi then took the opportunity to seize his bottom lip, taking it in his mouth and nipping it softly.

"The getting's good here bud, you have a go before I hog him all to myself." Tsukoshi offered, stepping away from the limp boy so Kenshi could have a turn. He made no hesitation to unzip his own jeans, and he roughly yanked on bakura's black plaid pajamas, sliding them down to just reveal the boys skinny hips.

"Hey lucky you, I think he's waking up! Heh, now the real fun can begin…" Tsukoshi laughed, staring lustfully at Bakura's now stirring form.

"LET GO OF ME YOU ASS!" Bakura screeched, shoving Kenshi's face away from his. He looked down and noticed in horror that he was only in his pajama bottoms and his shirt was completely gone and laying across the alley. He wrapped his arms around himself and glared at them with a bright red blush staining his cheeks.

"Oh no, youre not getting away when were so close!" Tsukoshi shouted, grabbing Bakura's wrist and squeezing roughly.

"Ouch—STOP!" He yelled, kicking kenshi away sharply as he completely unzipped his jeans and staggered towards him.

"Little bitch…! My nose!" Kenshi groaned, titling his head back to keep the blood from dripping like a faucet.

Bakura had never been in a situation like this before, and he had to admit it was actually quite scary. He thought he'd be able to simply be rid of them, but he didn't really take into account that, oh, maybe, he was a little small?

"Get the hell off of me you revolting trollop!" He growled, swinging his fist into tsukoshi's jaw, who in turn jumped back with a yell.

"That's it punk, I was gonna go easy on ya because you have such a sexy bod, but you've gone too far! Kenshi, grab him from behind. Were taking him by force." Tsukoshi barked. Kenshi grabbed Bakura from behind, holding his thin arms firmly behind his back so that he couldn't move.

His crimson eyes widened slightly at the sudden trp, and his breathing started getting shallow with panic.

"Release me or you'll regret that you were even conceived!" He shouted, his voice cracking slightly, flailing his legs and kicking into the air at Tsukoshi, who merely smiled at him triumphantly.

"You think you can actually bring down the lord of the south side? You northerners got a thing or two to learn, and you'll be the perfect example…"

He hissed, gripping bakura's throat.

"Agh-!" He whimpered, his voice cut off by Tsukoshi slamming his lips roughly onto his, exploring his mouth forcefully, nearly making him choke.

He grabbed the waist of bakura's pants and removed them completely, ignoring his screams of protest and resentment.

"They'll be moans in just a moment kenshi, then you can bend him over and have your turn." Tsukoshi called to Kenshi, who gnawed on his lip in response.

Bakura breathed heavily, his eyes like blood colored saucers, wracking his brain for anything that could assist him. Then he was struck with an idea.

" Oh Tsukoshi-san! Nngh please, I- I can't take it anymore, just please put me down and…! And…!" He moaned loudly, making his body go slack.

"heheheheh, no problem. Kenshi lay him back, seems like this is going to be a lot less stressful than we initially thought." Tsukoshi said, motioning for kenshi to release him.

"Idiots, you two are." Bakura scoffed, whipping out his blade. "What on earth would posses you to believe me? Heheheheh…."

Kenshi jumped back quickly, shock on his face. Tsukoshi paled slightly, staring at Bakura with contempt.

"You think you can take us two to one? we didn't come unprepared, we were gonna kill ya after we were finished anyhow." Kenshi said, a mock confidence in his voice. He pulled out his own knife, and Tsukoshi smirked smugly at Bakura, who glared at them levelly.

"No matter, I can take you both…on…?" He said softly, suddenly feeling dizzy. He growled and forced himself to keep conscious. Now it was a life or death situation, and he didn't intend on being raped and murdered. From the corner of his eye, he noticed a bright golden glow across the alley.

"Ahh—nnghh…" He groaned, a throbbing headache nearly knocking him to the ground. The world started to spin and he felt nauseous, his body switching from hot and cold in a pulsating rhythm. The area around his heart started to burn unbearably and he clutched his chest, sinking to the ground in agony. "Argh!" He yelled, an expression of pain on his pale face. He felt his eyes grow heavy, before they started to sting painfully as if he had gotten glass in them.

"Grab him and slit his throat." He heard Tsukoshi growl at kenshi, who laughed loudly and gripped Bakura by the hair.

"Ahh!" he screamed, squeezing his eyes shut tightly, before passing out.

"Say goodnight kid—Agh!" Kenshi yelped, shielding his eyes from a sudden bright light that emanated from his victim. When he reopened them, he was shocked to find that Bakura staring at him in a fashion that made his blood turn to ice. He had a wide grin and his eyes were a strange violet hue. A golden eye shone brilliantly from under his bangs, and he felt as if he had been sitting outside in sub zero temperatures.

"Release me mortal."

"Like hell I will! Time to die you freak!" Kenshi shouted as he drew his arm back and clenched his knife in his fist.

"I think not, sir." Bakura purred, snatching away from kenshi stepping back in one fluid motion. "But, I will inform you of your demise. Have you ever heard of the shadow—ah!" He gasped, looking down and seeing blood trickle down from his abdomen and drip onto the ground. Tsukoshi pulled his knife, now bright red, out of the teens stomach with a grunt.

"Don't mess with us kid. Let that be a lesson you'll never forget." He said, licking the blood from his knife.

"mm, that hurt… what do you say I give it a try?" Bakura giggled, placing his hand on his torn stomach. He smiled childishly at the two men, who stared at him with shocked and horrified expressions as the gaping hole above his belly button closed and revealed no scar.

"Wh-what the fuck?" Kenshi screamed, dropping his own dagger with a loud and resonating clang.

"My~ turn~!" Bakura sang, the golden eye on his forehead shining unfalteringly as he picked his millennium ring up from the now blood soaked ground. Smiling manically, he held it out to the two men, who yelled and dashed past him, trying desperately to get out into the open.

"Don't be afraid, It's just a necklace…" He purred, smiling sweetly at them with his head tilted to one side childishly. "You should be more afraid of the dark than anything else…" He finished, glaring murderously at the duo as all light in the alley was swallowed by inky blackness.

"What the hell? Who turned out the lights?" Tsukoshi bellowed, stopping in his tracks and searching around in panic. Suddenly, he heard a blood curdling scream ring out not too far from him, and in horror he realeized it was kenshi. Loud popping and tearing noises followed, along with the heavy metallic stench of fresh blood. Scuttling and heavy breathing surrounded him, and he dashed out blindly, yelling at the top of his lungs."Somebody help me! Please!"

"Ahaha, you cant hide from the shadows my sweet, they are every where after all…" Bakura cooed, suddenly the only thing visible in the blackness. He strolled up to Tsukoshi and pressed his body against him, snickering as he pressed a soft kiss on his cheek. "It's going to hurt…" He purred lustfully, running his finger across Tsukoshi's cheek. "You will be mine forever, body and soul…"

With that, he stepped back and a flash of light revealed revolting and faceless monstrocities, large and blood thirsty. They were as black as death, and they appeared to be dripping in black blood which sizzled as it fell to the ground. Bearing their teeth, their serpentine bodies quivered with anticipation as their thick black tongues split to reveal a smaller tongue, this one barbed in rows of razor sharp hooked barbs.

"Bye bye~!"Bakura chimed, waving at Tsukoshi with a cute smile before the light went out and the shadows growled loudly, sinking their teeth into his flesh and jerking around violently, ripping muscle and sinews from his bones ravenously as he shrieked at the top of his lungs.

"Oh, my friends, make sure you don't kill him until the last possible second please. He really deserves it for all of the hard work he's done, don't you think?" Bakura called out flatly, smiling once more as he heard a high pitched and agonized scream come from the blackness.

**Okie dokie… this chapter was all right I guess. It wasn't as bad as the last one … I think. Hope. Wish. Well there ya go, your first taste of akefia! He doesn't have his own body yet, but I'm really hoping that you all got the idea that Bakura wasn't in control during the whole shadow realm thing. He'll get his own body eventually, don't worry everyone. And I was aiming for making his personality like one of those corrupted and disturbed eight year olds, like the ones that giggle like adorable little babies before they push you out of a high rise building window or down a flight of stairs. Either way, I'd like it to be a lot different from bakura's just so that he has his own personality and he isn't just literally a mirror of Bakura. Mirrors will come into play though in the next few chapters. I may even surprise you guys with a super fast update if I get enough reviews. *BRIBERY BRIBERY BRIBERY***

**Hope you liked it, and sorry for the vivid death scene hahaha ^^; Message me if you have any suggestions or questions or just want to talk about anything, im pretty fun to talk to Thank you for your support throughout the story everyone, it's very appreciated. **

**~windferret**


	6. Chapter 6

**OH MY GOSH. 3 reviews in 2 days. That made me so flipping happy people. Most people would say that's not a lot, but hey it's a new story and im going out into the FF world with a concept of mine, so YES, I THINK ITS A LOT. Oh, and don't think that I'm ignoring the reviews and stuff, I just check my stories on my little LG Rumor Touch, and Mobile FF kind of sucks. **

**Oh, and I had the wonderful Dark Blood Lust give me some constructive critism. Let me just give you a shoutout:**

**You noticed it too? That chapter wasn't my most descriptive, I'll definitely admit that. I really didn't know where I was going with the last chapter, honestly ^^; and the thing with this story is, NONE OF IT IS WRITTEN DOWN. No, really. I just sit down and I type the chapters for hours XD so literally, I just type whatever comes to mind. I guess in the last chappie my mind wasn't in the most creative state = A = but thank you SOOOOOOOOOO much for the constructive criticism, I'll try to meet your expectations next time! **

**~windferret**

**And as for the rest of you, I'm going to have a special present for ya after this chapter. COUGHIFIGETENOUGHREVIEWSCOUGH.**

**I'm going to need everyones feed back though so that I have a happy bunch of friends :D But let me stop rambling, I'll tell you about it in the ending authors note thingy. Enjoy! **

**Chapter 6**

"_You can't leave!" Ryou cried, shaking his head in defiance, tears spilling from his eyes. His hands were clenched into trembling fists as he yelled at the translucent figure before him._

"_Its not up for debate, Yadonoushi." Bakura said in a strained voice, not looking Ryou in the face for fear of losing his control._

"_But all of this time," Ryou sobbed desperately, "All of this time we've coexisted with one another- -" _

"_All of this time we've coexisted WHAT?" Bakura growled dangerously, finally snapping his eyes open to glare at his host. "Why can't you just HATE me for Ra's sake? What the hell's the matter with you?" He roared, storming up to Ryou and clasping his hands around his throat, slamming him against the wall. "you made a horrible mistake by coming into our soul room Yadonoushi-kun…" Bakura sneered, a sadistic smirk playing on his lips. Ryou coughed and sputtered, clawing at his attackers hands. _

"_Bakura!"_

"_Say you hate me."_

"_Bakura…!"_

"_Say you hate me!"_

"_NO!"_

_Bakura blinked in surprise at the defiance his host so boldly displayed, but narrowed his eyes in disgust, tossing the boy to the ground with a scoff. _

"_Why the hell not!" He demanded, stepping on Ryou's head and grinding his heel into his skull to make a point to answer quickly. _

"_Because…I don't!" Ryou whimpered, beginning to dry once more. Bakura gasped softly, the response nearly knocked him off of his feet, so much though that he had to grab the wall for support. He watched with widened eyes as Ryou stood shakily, his knees wobbling in the effort. Bakura stared. He simply stared._

"_What the hell is WRONG with you?" He screeched, practically launching himself at Ryou, bowling him over and pinning him to the ground savagely. "Don't you know what I DID to you?" he hissed, snatching the petrified teens sleeve up to reveal a jagged and angry scar. "Didn't it HURT?" He continued, grabbing his hand and showing the small crescent shaped scar Ryou received when his hand was gored during dungeon dice monsters. "Don't you know what I did to your FRIENDS? Your Family?"_

"_Yes!" Ryou hollered, terror laced in his voice. His tears flowed uncontrollably now, and his body shuddered violently in fear. Bakura released him and simply sat on his abdomen, glowering down at him._

"_But…" Ryou began, his voice shaking. "But I could never HATE you! My friends don't even really talk to me anymore! Father is never here, mother and Amane and mother are dead. You of all people know that." He said, his eyes glistening with sadness. Bakura softened a bit , shifting his leer to across the room then back at his host._

"_Despite all of the things you've done to me though," Ryou began again. "I can never bring myself to hate you…"_

"_Why, Yadonoushi?" Bakura snarled._

"_Because you've always been there when no one else was." Ryou replied, staring straight into Bakura's eyes. "When no one would talk to me at all of the other schools, I found comfort in the millennium ring. When mother passed away, when Amane died… I always knew you were there." He said, barely above a whisper. "You stuck up for me when I got bullied because of how I looked… and you kept me company when father went on his exhibitions…"_

"_Y-yadonoushi…" Bakura stuttered, his eyes wide in genuine surprise._

"_That's why you can't leave!" Ryou yelled, sitting up abruptly and knocking Bakura onto his back and pinning his hands to the floor._

"_Oof!" He grunted, taken by surprise and glaring up at his host angrily. _

"_Because if you leave…If you leave I'll be all alone…! So please don't go Bakura…! I n-need you…don't leave me all by myself…please!" Ryou sobbed, lowering himself onto Bakura and hugging him tightly, on the verge of hysterics._

"_It's not something I can control Yadonoushi-kun… the purpose I came to serve, well, heh… it's all over now." Bakura chuckled sullenly, feeling sorry for the young boy. It really wasn't in his control. He only had a brief moment before the shadows swallowed his wayward soul whole, and knowing this his host went out of his way, putting himself at stake once more, to bid him farewell. It was heart wrenching, but Bakura would never willingly admit that. "Ra, just say you hate me dammit!" he shouted._

"_Why?" Ryou asked softly, gazing into Bakura's scarlet eyes._

"_It'll make saying goodbye so much goddamn easier…!" Bakura said, his voice cracking slightly. He finally lost his hold and hot tears slid down his reddened face as he gripped Ryou tightly in a desperate embrace. He knew his time was coming, in account of the almost excruciating pressure he felt in his chest. It always hurts to go to the shadow realm. He's been there PLENTY of times. Noticing his hand starting to fade in and out of visibility, he prepared himself for one of the most painful experiences he's felt in millennia. Having to say goodbye to someone you love. _

"_I'm sorry Ryou…" He whimpered, his grip beginning to loosen involuntarily as his already translucent figure began to dissipate painfully. He felt that this was the best time as any to use the boy's name, seeing as he never used it in the first place._

"_Bakura?" Ryou gasped, noticing the degeneration his yami was going through._

"_You'll have to be stronger without me, Ryou. I don't want to come back and you're useless as my host because you've been injured. I doubt I'd find another like you…" Bakura sighed, wincing as he took in a breath._

_Ryou stood quickly, an agonized expression on his face. "No..! Don't go!"_

_Bakura clenched his fists tightly and bit his bottom lip, trying to prevent himself from saying anything too emotional. He might accidently kill the boy._

"_I'll leave you with just this, eh? Just…don't cry anymore alright?" He said, blushing softly and running a hand through his lunar colored tresses. He was taking a chance here, but if it would make the kid feel better then he was willing to do it. He was half worried he might freak out because of everything he put him through, but oh well._

"_What do you mean?" Ryou asked, wiping a tear from his eye. _

"_This." Bakura said with a smirk, pressing his lips to Ryou's gently, relishing the sweet tastes of his warm mouth. Ryou reacted in a way that neither of them would have expected. Moaning softly, he wrapped his arms around Bakura's neck, bringing their bodies together. Bakura sighed pleasurably, running his fingers through his host's hair. If he would've known that this was such an experience, he would've done it sooner…_

"_Mm, Ryou, enough, enough Yadounoshi." Bakura moaned, forcing himself to pull away before he got too into the whole thing. He held back a shout when an unbearable throbbing wracked his body, and he almost disappeared in entirety. _

"_Bakura?"_

"_Goodbye, Yadonoushi-kun…"_

Ryou awakened with a start, looking around the room in alarm.

"Ugh, why am I dreaming about that day…" he groaned, standing stiffly from the couch with a wince. Peering over into the kitchen, the clock read 3:47AM. Bakura had been gone for almost 3 and a half hours.

"Darn it… he better not have gotten himself hurt…" he said, limping into the hall and pulling on a sweater. He had to go find him, but he knew better than to go wandering around downtown by himself_._ He didn't want a replay of earlier, he thought with a shudder. Flipping open his cell phone, he browsed through his contacts hurriedly, looking for one specific friend of his.

A slight drizzle pittered on Marik's window, gently pulling him out of his sleep.

"Ugh…" he moaned, groggily checking the time. This is one of the reasons he hated living in Japan sometimes. In Egypt, he didn't have to deal with incessant precipitation. Craning his neck to peek over his shoulder, he

noticed with a sigh that his yami was still sleeping. Nothing ever woke him up. Sliding out of their king sized bed, he padded down the hallway in his simple pajamas, consisting of a black tank top, some boxers, and a pair of mixed up socks. The one thing he simply hated the most was the strange shadows that the night cast on the walls of his apartment. Images of ogres and other disgusting beasts teased and laughed at him, cackling at his apparent fear. Of course, that was only in his head. There weren't really any monsters or goblins and ghouls. They were simply cats that strode about fences, or branches that tapped on his window. Still, he nearly broke into a full on sprint when he felt his cell phone vibrate against his hip. His yami told him not to put it there when he wasn't wearing something with pockets, something about interfering with your ability to have children. What'd he care about children anyways? He didn't have a girlfriend. It wasn't because he didn't _want _one, he just…Didn't want to think about it. Pulling the phone from the elastic of his shorts, he squinted his eyes against the bright screen.

"_Open ur door! I have a special ? to ask u nd I need ur help!" _Read a text from Ryou, whose name was under "Puff Puff". He wouldn't tell him that though because he was sure he'd be skinned alive. Flipping his phone open to the side, he quickly replied to the short message.

"_Do u kno wat time it iz? Malik will have a fit if I leave."_

Snapping it closed again, he stuffed the compact phone back into his shorts and proceeded to the bathroom, his initial destination.

"Shoot—geez!" He shouted, nearly dropping his phone in the open basin when he pulled his boxers down and it vibrated spastically. "Can you text any faster…?" He pondered as he glared at the screen and read the message begrudgingly.

"_I gtg find Bakura, something happened and he isn't back yet. Tell malik his new BFF is in trouble. Plz just let me in, im outside!"_

With a huff, he quickly finished his business and washed his hands quickly, not even bothering to dry them. The quicker he woke Malik up, the sooner he could get in on this 'something' that the white haired teen was talking about.

"Malik…" he whispered at first, shaking his shoulder gently. The blonde sank down into the covers until only his unruly hair poked from under the sheets. Quickly growing annoyed, he yanked the comforters off savagely and flicked water in the Yami's face, smirking when his eyes opened slightly.

"What." He ground out, squeezing his eyes shut and scrunching his eyebrows together.

"ADVENTURE TIME WITH RYOU AND MARIK!" He shouted, bouncing on the bed with his knees.

"…Go away."

"Come on! It's important, and Ryou says Bakura's in trouble!"

"When did he say this?"

"He texted me just now, and I think he's outside the door."

"You know I don't trust the technology of this world. Are you sure he's outside?"

"_YES."_

"Did you check?"

"…"

With that, Marik flicked the hallway light on and dashed down the hall excitedly, restraining a giggle as he flung the door open and nearly smacked into the unbalanced white head.

"Ouch! Geez Marik can you watch where you're going?" Ryou growled, briefly resembling his Yami, who was missing at the time. His pajamas clung to his body, as there was now a steady rainfall outside.

"Gosh Ryou, you looked like a drowned puppy." Marik snickered, giggling when his friend punched him in the shoulder lightly.

"I'm serious Marik, Something really bad happened a few hours ago…" Ryou said, bringing his voice down to a whisper when he noticed the taller blonde appear from their bedroom.

"Well, fill me in buddy." Marik whispered, not knowing why he was lowering his voice but following suit anyways.

"I'll tell you about the entire situation later, but just know that he took is millennium ring—"

"He took the RING?" Marik shouted incredulously, yelping when a pale hand smacked across his mouth.

"Shhh!"

"Too late, Hikari-kun." Malik said, frowning disapprovingly. "You allowed an…unstable individual such as Bakura leave the house with the Millennium ring? I assume you remember what _that _caused before, correct?" Malik scoffed, crossing his arms.

"Well, I tired but I couldn't move—er, move him, so…" Ryou blundered, not wanting to worry the two of Tsukoshi just yet. He wanted to know that his yami was safe before he broke the news to the blondes. They would be in just as much rage as Bakura had been in, and he definitely didn't want a recap of the evening.

"Do you have any idea what his motives are?" Marik asked, a serious tone in his voice.

"Do you even have to ask?" Ryou sighed, hanging his head down low. "I hate to say it, but since its shadow magic no one will ever find the bodies…"

Malik nodded morbidly, knowing all too well the powerful forces of shadow magic.

"I need you guys to help me find him." Ryou said, looking deep into the blonde yami's lilac eyes.

"All over it buddy!" Marik shouted from down the hall, standing on his tip toes to grab the millennium rod from out of their towel closet. Ryou smiled warmly and embraced the two before slipping his shoes on and heading out the door quickly, Malik and Marik close behind.

"Eheh…" Bakura chuckled, smiling widely. His clothes were soaked completely in blood, and the rain made it seep off into small translucent red streams along the ground. He marveled at his body, and giggled childishly as the rain washed away what was left of his victims. His resurrection would come to be, quite soon

"I'll soon be revived and powerful…" He cackled. "Once my plan comes together that is…"

He was aware of a faint shouting in the back of his mind, but he skillfully ignored it and continued to scan his surroundings. The complaints of his host were no concern to him, as the complaints of his host's host weren't a concern to him either.

**BAAAAAAAH. Short chapter is short. Honestly, I had typed the chapter, and I finished it like a week and a half ago, but then I just never got to post it. I apologize in advance for any complaints, and I give you permission to throw rotted fruit -_-**

**Good news is, I PASSED MY WRITING STATE EXAM :D In virgina they call it SOL's (Standards of learning) So im completely pleased with what I got. Ok, so the scoring system is like, 400 points is passing, 500 is passed advanced, and 600 is IMPOSSIBLE TO GET UNLESS YOU'RE A GENIUS. Anyways, I got a 497! **

**That's good. Because I thought I was going to get like a 300. And that's failing miserably. But I almoooossst got passed advanced, I just got 2 multiple choice questions wrong. *RAGE FACE* I swear when I got the results and found out they were multiple choice questions, I went super saiyan. IT'S OVER 9,000. **

**Lol. But yes, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! My favorite part this chapter was the flashback Mainly because I woke up out of a dead sleep to write it. It was like 4 in the morning on a Saturday and I think I was dreaming about…Get this. CORNDOGS. Yeah, it was an intense dream too. People were dying o_O Anyfliggums, (WTF?) I woke up, crawled out of bed and got my notebook and began writing! I changed a few things, like before I typed it, it was like a lot shorter and way less heartbreaking LOL. I decided to be mean and make it sadder than it was originally. **

**THIS AUTHOR THINGY IS LONG. **

**I think I said I'd tell you the details of what I said in the pre-story aurthor thingy right? Well, the bribe is, I'll write you guys ANY LEMON, ONE SHOT, OR ANYTHING ELSE YOU WANT, WITH ANY PAIRING, if you give me at least 3 reviews this chapter. *INCENTIVE INCENTIVE* **

**You have to tell me what you like though! I want everyone to be happy The shipping with the most requests gets a story! **

**~Windferret (Rambles on forever) **


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey…*Epic defeated face* I'm upset because I wanted to update a lot sooner than this but I have state exams and I have to study for it and everything, and I found out im moving next month *SAD FACE* So I might not be able to go to the High school I wanna go to. Lets cross our fingers and hope I do. But anyways, concerning this fanfiction. I got 4 reviews for the last chapter~ And the shippings I got requested were:**

**Kaiba x Bakura**

**Ryou x Marik (Yami)**

**And Bakura x Akefia x Ryou**

**OOH HAPPY DAY THOSE ARE FAIRLY SIMPLE TO WRITE! **

**The prize for you gorgeous reviewers is : A chapter based mostly around these pairings. So, since I got a fairly nice little amount of them, the next 3 chapters will have these shipping incorporated into them. The first one, mainly for the purpose of plot convenience is Ryou and Marik. **

**I'm gonna stop talking. **

**Enjoy the chapter.**

**Chapter 7**

"You would think you would've brought a thicker jacket…" Malik grumbled as Ryou coughed loudly, shaking subtly. Ryou just glared over at him tiredly. His expression was vacant and haggard, and he tried his best to ignore the soreness in his body. Looking up with reddened and puffy eyes, he glanced up at the neon lighting around the trio. Loud and vulgar music rang in his ears as they passed many nightclubs, and Marik had gotten himself touched oddly by a passing woman. He of course thought nothing of it and continued to be mystified by all of the flashing signs. Ryou had to admit that it was a bit nice, despite where they knew they currently were. Of course they were in the under belly of Domino, even worse than east and west Domino, where blood feuds raged constantly. No, south domino was notorious for its high crime rate and kidnappings, not gang fights. Still though, he found himself entranced by the way the electric pink and green flashing signs glittered in the rain, and he took on the expression of a baffled child.

"Hey you're falling behind buddy!" Marik called, grabbing ryous hand and nearly scaring him half to death.

"Ow stop pulling me around Malik !" Ryou hissed, yanking his hand away and rubbing his wrist. Marik looked a little confused but backed off, looking a lot like a dejected puppy. Ryou sighed guiltily and settled to wrapping his arms around his body. He shouldn't have yelled at his friend, but he wasn't exactly in the best shape, or mood for that matter. He'd just gotten raped for god's sake, and now he was wet and freezing to death looking for his significant other who had a little more than an attitude problem.

"Malik, are we close yet?" He asked, tugging on the tall teenager's sweater sleeve. He wasn't going to lie; he was a bit intimidated by him. He was tall as all outdoors, and he always had a strangely blank expression in his face that kept you guessing. At the same time though, he had a mischievous glint that rivaled Marik's, and it was ever so attractive.

"Were getting closer, but I'd say we have a bit of a ways to go. Your Bakura sure does know how to get himself lost." He said, raking his hands through his golden hair. "You look really…sickly."

"Yeah, I get that a lot." Ryou scoffed, wrapping his arms tighter around himself.

"…Here." Malik said simply, peeling off his sweater and shoving it at Ryou, who sputtered and insisted that he was completely fine the way he was, only to have his refusals ignored. Defeated, he slipped on the black garments and immediately started warming up. Having been previously heated by Malik, Ryou breathed in the scent of the Egyptian. His sweater smelled of almonds and cherry, and he had to admit that it soothed him, and he blushed a little. A few sizes too big, it draped over his hands and hid his fingers, making him look like a child in his older brothers clothing.

"Are you sure this is okay?" He asked quietly, peeking up at the blonde.

"Yes." He said simply, glancing down at the boy. His lavender eyes looked distant, and he looked as if his mind was in a completely different place as they walked along the streets of southern Domino.

"Is something wrong Malik?" Marik asked, as if a sixth sense that only a hikari and yami shared had just been set off.

"We're here." He answered, halting abruptly. They stopped in front of the entrance to a particularly dark alley, and it made Ryou shiver despite the huge sweater he was being swallowed up by. Marik's hairs stood on end and he stepped closer to his yami, who had a stony expression on his face. The millennium rod glowed a warm golden light, and that's when all three of them knew that this is where Bakura was.

"Is that…?" Marik said, trailing off when he realized that pooling up next to their feet was bloodied water. He paled visibly and brought a hand up to his mouth has he stared into the blackness of the alley way. "You don't think he's—"

"Shut up." Malik barked, his grip around his millennium item tightening as he began walking into the alley. "You two stay here and I'll be back."

"Hell no." Marik barked back, a determined look on his face. He was a very convincing young man when he wanted to be, and when he had his mind set on something he went with it. Grabbing Ryou's hand reassuringly, he stared up at his yami with an unfaltering gaze.

"…Fine. Stay close though." Malik conceded, letting the millennium rod guide them into the unknown. Ryou's eyes seemed like they would roll straight out of his sockets they were so wide. A feeling of absolute danger washed over him, and his breathing quickened exponentially. Whatever forces were at work here, they weren't like the shadow magic Ryou had come across before. Before, Bakura was careful about how much of it he used around him, because ultimately if Ryou was swallowed up by it then so was he. But that was only because he was Bakura's host.

"M-Malik, I'm gonna go back to the sidewalk…" Ryou stammered his breathing shallow and his voice pitched higher.

"Were already too far in for you to leave now Hikari-kun." Malik said, pulling the frightened teen closer to him reassuringly.

"I see him!" Marik chirped, a smile popping onto his face bright enough to pierce even the darkness of the place they were in.

"Wait." Malik hissed, grabbing his Hikari by the shoulders and shoving the disgruntled teen behind him protectively. "Something's not right…"

"Bakura?" Ryou squeaked, peeking form behind Malik fearfully. He didn't know why, but he was absolutely terrified of the person he'd known for years now like he had never been before.

"Yuugi, wake up, come on." Yami begged, shaking the shoulder of his second half.

"Yes…?" He groaned, rolling over and opening his eyes slowly, smiling softly at his Yami.

"Something's wrong…the puzzle is acting strange, and I have a bad feeling…"

"A bad feeling? Like what?" Yuugi questioned, sitting up and looking into Atem's eyes deeply.

"Something evil is among this world… Get dressed. Were going out for a walk."

"Now? Atemu, its so late! And besides, where would we go at this time of night?"

"Wherever the puzzle leads us, aibou."

"Well," Bakura slurred, a lackadaisical smirk on his face. "Looks like you found me."

"You aren't Bakura." Malik growled, unsheathing the blade on his Millennium rod. Ryou gasped loudly and clung to Marik desperately.

"Neither are you, but I'm not threatening to stab you now am i?"

"Who are you?"

"I'm Bakura, and Bakura is me. We are one and the same. Heehee!" He trilled, smiling creepily. Malik wrinkled his face at the being in front of him. He radiated darkness and his aura felt demonic and intimidating, yet his demeanor was loose and taunting. He didn't like it.

"Just what the hell happened here?" Malik demanded.

"Why do you think something's happened? Nothings wrong here." Bakura answered, tilting his head to the side childishly, successfully irking Malik even further.

"Don't play stupid with me. It's quite obvious that there is shadow magic involved, you can practically feel the darkness feeding off of our souls. So I'll ask you again. Who are you?"

"My name is Akefia." Bakura answered simply, twirling about in a circle and smiling impishly. "But that's Bakura's name. Bakura is Akefia."

"What?"

"We are each other, I thought we had this settled." He giggled, moving fluidly towards Malik and bringing his face within inches of the blonde yami's. "You are of Egypt, yes? Where did you come across that rod?"

"Call it a family heirloom…" Malik growled, not faltering or stepping back from the strange boy. He knew that Bakura want himself. There was another presence involved, one that, despite the way it was behaving, wasn't very safe.

"That belongs to me, give it." Bakura hissed, his eyes narrowing. His attitude suddenly turned hostile, and the playful smile on his lips was replaced by an angry scowl.

"I don't think so." Malik scoffed, holding his millennium item behind his back. "You have no idea what I had to go through—"

"What _you_ had to got through? Hm…keh heh…" Bakura chuckled, the small sound quickly escalating into full bodied cackling. "Don't you _dare_. Stay out of the way of my goal." He said, his laugh completely deadpanning.

"Yami, it's dangerous down here!" Yuugi whimpered, gripping Atem's hand fearfully as they walked briskly down the sidewalks in south domino. Finding a bus at the late hour was hard enough, but trying to console Yuugi was even harder.

"Were right by our destination aibou, just hold on a little while longer."

"How can you be so sure? I've never been down this way with you."

"My breathing feels as if it is being stifled, and I have a throbbing pain in my chest. In other words, there is shadow magic being used not too far away."

"Well why on earth would we be going towards it then?"

"Who is the one person we know that dealt directly with shadow magic most often?" Atem said, stopping and staring into Yuugi's eyes intensely.

"….Bakura." Yuugi replied, a dire tone in his voice.

"Malik don't hurt him!" Ryou shouted, reaching his hand out desperately as he watched the blonde slam the possessed yami against the hard brick wall savagely. With a maniacal giggle, Bakura shoved him off roughly and smirked.

"Wanna play this game, hm?" He jeered, whipping out his knife.

"No!" Ryou pleaded, struggling to get out of Marik's grasp. "Stop fighting!"

"Gladly, whoever bleeds the most loses." Malik chuckled, caressing his millennium rod possessively and ignoring Ryou. "Come at me bro."

"Kukuku…" Bakura laughed, a laugh that belonged to someone completely different. Lunging forward almost at a blindingly fast speed, Malik grunted and just barely jumped out of the way, avoiding a blade to the chest. Bakura growled in an animalistic manner, yanking is knife from the wall he had struck with unnatural force. Malik's eyes widened at the agility of the white haired boy, and knew immediately that he was dealing with a furious and malevolent spirit, hell bent on destruction. And he wasn't talking about _normal _Bakura.

Ryou stared terrified at the skirmish on front of him. His friend and his Yami—or whoever was inhabiting his Yami's body, were locked in a deadly battle, each equally matching each other's skills. He knew that it was only a matter of time before one of them got worn-out, and he knew that whoever that happened to be, they would most likely be killed by the other. Noticing with a shiver, Malik's breathing was beginning to get louder and more ragged, meaning he was beginning to tire. He seemed to notice this too, because his movements began getting more frantic with every swing he dished out and dodged.

"Oooh~ getting a little winded? I can go all night, but it'd be no fun to just beat the hell out of your dead body. You'll run out of blood eventually, after all." Bakura giggled, holding his hands palm side up and shrugging his shoulders.

"Hmph, I don't think you'll be getting too much of a chance with me." Malik snarled, standing in a defensive stance once more, ready to spring at any moment.

"Bakura!" A deep and familiar voice bellowed, Catching the white heads attention. Atem stood at the mouth of the alley, breathing heavily from the running he had just done to get there. "No… you're not Bakura."

"…Yes, I am—wait. Pharaoh?" Bakura said incredulously, his violet eyes widening in awe and dropping his guard.

"Watch your back!" Malik shouted, taking the momentary opening to his advantage and driving the sharp end of the millennium Rod into the boys gut.

"Gck!" The whitehead winced, a sickened expression on his face. "You bastard…!" He hissed, sinking down to his knees with a pained expression.

"NO!" Ryou screamed, ripping away from Marik roughly and sprinting towards the fallen Yami with fresh and hot tears in his eyes. His hands trembled and his breathing had once again gotten shallow and labored. He hoped he didn't hyperventilate.

"Ryou get away from—" Atem began.

"_Fuck_ you!" Ryou shrieked, whirling his head around so fast that his hair nearly smacked him in the face. The young teen rarely cursed, and when he did so it was only in a dire situation, unlike his yami who was now bleeding out on the ground.

"Ryou…?" Came Bakura's voice, frail and frightened. His eyes were still stormy purple, but they had began to take on more of a red tint. He looked scared, weak, and more or less like a sickly child, his face paling as his blood leaked from the wound In his stomach.

"Bakura! Youre gonna be alright, we just need to get you to a hospital so we can fix you up right away." Ryou blathered, talking so quickly that most of it just came out as incoherent high pitched nose. Lifting him gently, Ryou slung bakura's arm over his shoulder to held the injured yami walk.

"Ryou, I still feel a little…weird about him. I don't think you should be near him." Atem warned, a worried look on his face. Malik, Yuugi, and Marik shared the same feelings.

"Whats the matter with you guys? He's hurt for god's sake, cant you show an inkling of compassion?" Ryou said in an accusatory tone, narrowing his eyes at the group. "Bakura?" He said, looking down when he felt the teen stand by himself. He had a blank expression on his face, and his eyes looked lifeless. "Are you alright—Ah!" Ryou yelped, his question interrupted by Bakura wrapping his hands around his neck and shoving him into a wall, his face stoic the entire time.

"Hehehehe…AHAHAHAHA!" Bakura screeched. "You are such an innocent child now aren't you? Reminds me of myself when I was younger. But then again, I do not wish to be reminded of such a horrific time in my life soooo…I do believe you'll have to be removed from the picture."

"Bakura…! Please stop!" Ryou whimpered, trembling with fear as he brought his hands to his yami's.

"Why?"

"Because this hurts…! It hurts…" Ryou said, his voice getting quieter as Bakura's hands got tighter.

"Feh, that's too bad. They didn't stop when everyone in my village pleaded, did they? Nope~! Isn't that right pharaoh?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about! Release Ryou this instant spirit!"

"Wrong answer…" He hissed, sinking his nails into the thin skin on Ryou's neck until it drew blood. "One more soul for me~" He sang, the golden eye on his forehead glowing brightly.

"Ryou! Run!" Yuugi cried in spite of himself.

"No!" Ryou shrieked, slamming his knee into bakura's belly.

"AGH!" He screamed, drawing his hands back to cover his mouth before retching once, good and hard, and widening his eyes as blood spilled from his mouth and slipped in between his fingers.

"Bakura—" Ryou began, but couldn't finish before Malik snatched him away from the sputtering yami and hugged him tightly into his chest.

"No! let me go you have to help him!" Ryou sobbed desperately, pushing on the tall teens chest trying to get free.

"Shh…It's okay, he'll be alright…" Malik crooned repetitively, calming the white head and stroking his hair softly. Marik threw a glance over in Atem and yuugi's direction before walking cautiously over to Bakura.

"What do you need?" Bakura asked weakly, a small smile on his face despite the small trails of blood dripping from his mouth and pooling on his chin.

"We need you to relinquish this body for now." Marik said. "If he doesn't seek medical attention he'll die and he can no longer be of use to you."

"oh, so that's what you need…Well, he does seem a tad worn out, so just this once I'll relinquish my hold…on my body. It was nice playing with you, in this new world. It hasn't changed very much, hm?" He said, swiping his long white bangs from in front of his eyes, which were beginning to turn back to their normal blood washed red. "Bye bye…" He sighed, before letting Bakura back into control.

Marik smiled, and Atem and Yuugi sighed in relief.

"Ow goddamit…everything hurts…" Bakura winced, trying to sit up but learned that his injuries were a lot worse than he anticipated.

"Were going to get you some help buddy." Marik said warmly, helping the pale teen to his feet. In the back of his mind he knew that Bakura was enduring something awful internally, and he wanted to know why it seemed as if he, a reincarnated spirit, had become a host to another entity claiming to be him.

"Atem, give me a hand over here will ya?" He asked, as the former pharaoh slipped under Bakura's arm and helped walk him towards the mouth of the alley.

"Rough night huh kiddo?" Malik said softly to Ryou, who fell asleep standing up. His face was flushed red and he had bags under his eyes, but otherwise looked peaceful. Picking him up gently, he held the boy bridal style and pressed a small miss to his forehead before strolling out of the bloody area, not noticing the tiny smirk on the resting whiteheads face.

**Well. That was a pain to type. It took too long. ARGH. I passed all of my finals, whoopty doo. Excuse me for being unenthusiastic, the school year is dragging by ridiculously slow. EDITING. It nearly killed me -_-**

**This chapter was kinda long, as to make up for the shortness of the last one. Next chapter will be the kaiba x Yami Bakura shipping that was requested, and it'll make sense once you read it. If I get around to typing it anytime soon -_- TWO MORE WEEKS SOLDIER. TWO MORE WEEKS UNTIL SUMMER. Um, as for anything else, yeah akefia is the bipolar kinda creepy-ish type. For now at least. Once he gets his own body (It'll be soon I swear) Then I may or may not tweak his personality a bit. What do you guys think? Oh, and as you might be able to tell, Yami and Yuugi aren't my favorite character's to write about. Honestly, I like Egypt! Yami better. Atem. WHATEVER. **

**Until next time darlings, sorry I took so long to update. Leave me reviews so I can pull myself out of this depression -_-**


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

"Taxi!" yuugi hailed, waving his small arms erratically. A bright yellow van drove down the rain soaked roads, eager to get home for a late night meal. Looking like it was in no mood to stop for the small boy, the engine revved as it's speed increased, bowling straight past the group. Marik huffed and rolled his large lavender eyes. This had been the third missed ride. A dejected looking Yuugi stared down at his feet in sadness. Marik just tapped his foot irately. He had volunteered to do the hailing, one because he was more noticeable, and two because he was ten times more likely to score them a free ride. He DID have a scary yami to back him up. Plus his attitude alone could get the job done.

"It's alright aibou, we'll get the next one. Never give up! That's how we've always done things, remember?" Atem said with an encouraging tone.

"Really, I'm sure I can get us one relatively quickly." Marik said acridly. He was cold, he was wet, he was hungry, and he was tired. He did NOT have time to deal with Prince charming and his under developed princess' conversations.

Atem turned around with a slight leer, but quickly regained his calm expression.

"Well, if you think you can do better, give it your all. I believe in you." Atem answered, grinding the last bit out through his teeth. Marik just narrowed his eyes. Atem's holier-than-thou vibe made him want to punch someone in the face. Nowadays he was a bit more tolerable of the ex-pharoh because he had other things that pissed him off, like teachers, jocks, and those annoying janitors that mopped his shoes when they cleaned the cafeteria. But, it was moments like this that irritated the hell out of him. Yami knew it would've been easier from the start for Marik to do it, but his precious Hikari wanted to be helpful. For once, he might add.

Just as Marik contemplated tackling Atem for rolling his eyes, he spotted a flash of black and yellow down the road, driving rather slowly. They were in luck- it was a spacious taxi van. They could all fit, if they squeezed in.

Flipping his hair to the side, Marik glanced back and made SURE atem saw what he was doing. He liked to gloat.

Clearing his throat, he strolled into the middle of the road as the vehicle rolled down the road a couple yards away.

"Marik!" Yuugi shouted worriedly before he squeezed his eyes shut as he heard the screech of tires and a crash.

"Ahaha, open your eyes Yuugi, I'm not dead." Marik said, putting his hand on the shorter teens shoulder and holding back a mean hearted snicker.

"But what just happened—"

"I stepped into the road, driver swerved and hit a mailbox. No biggie, it works all the time." He explained, smiling brilliantly at his triumph. Atem frowned disapprovingly.

"What the hellsamatta with you?" The driver yelled, shaking his fist angrily.

"I didn't look both ways before I crossed, sorry sir." Marik said sweetly.

"I'M gonna be the one who's sorry, oi! I gotta payfuhdis paint job!"

"Well, I need you to take us to the nearest hospital, our friend needs immediate medical attention—"

"FUHGETTABOUTIT! I aint takin' you no place!"

"Can we work something out?" Marik began, a sly tone to his voice. He reached into his hair and removed one of his glittering earrings, and held it out to the curt man. He was no fool, he'd never give anyone his REAL earring. Those were locked away somewhere in his house. He'd have to be an idiot to wear real gold jewelry in such a shoddy place. Luckily for him, though, the taxi driver thought they were pretty authentic.

"…A'ight, get in. Are these real?"

"Do I LOOK like the type to lie?" Marik sighed, fluttering his eyelids and flipping his hair. When all else fails, play the blonde card.

"Eh, whateva. You comin' ah what?"

With an indignant grin, Marik hopped into the spacious van and waved at the rest of the gang to join him. Atem crawled into the back, followed by Yuugi. Marik sat himself in the row of seats in front of them.

"Malik! Theres uh…only one seat left." Marik said, looking at his yami in dismay.

"We'll fit." He grunted. He peered down at Ryou, who was resting on his shoulder, and at Bakura who he held by the waist as the injured whitehead rested on his second shoulder.

"Ryou," He said quietly, moving his shoulder a bit to wake the snoozing teen. "Get into the taxi, I'll be right there."

"Hnn…not yet…." Ryou groaned, burying his face into Malik's chest and not budging. With a roll of his eyes, he propped Bakura up against the wall they were standing next to and walked Ryou, who's legs were working on auto pilot, to the open door and set him on the seat next to Marik.

"As for the royal court back there, I suggest You sit on each other's laps if this is going to function properly." Malik growled, glaring at Atem, saying it as more of a direct order than a suggestion.

"Sure, whatever you need us to do, we'll do it gladly." Atem said lowly, glowering back at him as he pulled an oblivious Yuugi onto his lap.

"Marik, crawl back there and somehow take the comatose kid with you. I need the front seats for Bakura."

"Rodger that!" Marik said as he made his way to the back seat and pulled Ryou along with him, waking the white head up as he growled something about popping his arm out of it's socket if he continued to drag him around.

"I wasn't pulling you that hard!"

"Ergh…" He groaned in reply, simply falling back asleep as he curled up on Mariks lap.

Malik had gone back out onto the sidewalk to retrieve Bakura, who's eyes were open slightly.

"Hey, are you okay?" Malik said, a twinge of worry in his voice.

"I feel like shit…" He slurred, trying to muster up the strength to glare at the blonde but giving up completely to just stare at him unfocusedly.

"Yeah, you look like it too."

"Bitch. You stabbed me."

"You tried to kill me, just returning the favor." Malik chuckled, scooping up the light weight teenager easily and sitting him in the van as he finally hopped in also, sliding the door closed.

"Don't get any blood on my seats yah hear?"

"Shut up and drive baldy." Malik said, kicking the seat.

**Oooooookaaaayyyy…. Well, um I just wanted to post a REALLY short chapter to show you that I'm still alive. This is just the first part of Chapter 8 though, so don't worry, this chapter isn't over. **

**Oh, dear this is almost as short as the first chapter. *Shudder***

**But still, I had the story on hiatus because of the move so I apologize for the delay. School has started, so updates will still be a bit slow until I get settled. As for the Kaiba X Bakura shipping, it still applies to this chapter. The other shippings will have to come later, because I've been having a rough summer.**


	9. Chapter 8 Part two

**Ah, hey there again **

**Thank you so much for all of the support u It really makes me happy when my readers actually care. This story has been such a ride, HOO BABY. This chapter is still eight, it's just the second part :/ I'm sorry ~ but hey on the bright side, IT'S FALL! AND I'M FIFTEEN NOW! *still not accepted into the adult society* So this part is longer than the first part, I tried to make it lengthy for you guys **** It's not a SERIOUS SERIOUS OMG SH*T'S GOIN DOWN BRO chapter, it's more on the chillax side. The next part is probably going to be serious because I like de angst. Is this story angst? Huh. Tell me **

**PART ZWEI.**

"Get a room open, stat!" A frantic nurse shouted, as others stood with shocked expressions around the emergency room. "Move it!"

The hospital bustled and buzzed with excited interns and older veteran medical personnel as they scrambled to prepare an examination room. A duo of trainees grabbed a small cart, donning gauze, bottles medicines, and a monitor. Everything was in motion.

A vigilant citizen who had been gazing outside had alerted the front desk to a cab with a group of what looked like bloodied children clambering out. Emergency faculty were dashing towards them before they even reached the doors.

"Please, let us check you out dear!" A young woman pleaded with Ryou as he tried to wrench his arm from her.

"No! I want bakura! Lemme go!" He sobbed, twisting and scratching frustratedly as a taller male came to restrain him.

Malik was being stared at warily as he simply tugged off his rain and blood soaked shirt and sat in a waiting room chair, watching with interest at the commotion the white head was causing.

"Um…sir, we need to sit you in an exam room…" A small voice came, a short brunette nurse tapping his shoulder.

"I'm fine though,"

"But you don't understand, it's protocol…"

"Do I look like I'm hurt?"

"Well no—"

"Do I sound like I'm hurt?"

"No—"

"Have a nice day, miss." He said, smiling and standing up to move to the seat next to him, refusing to make eye contact with her.

With a huff, she moved on to the rest of the teenagers taking up space in the hospital.

"What about you, young lady?"

"…"

"Oh! Sorry youre… I only saw you from behind!"

"That's alright," Marik laughed good heartedly. It wasn't like he got mistaken for a girl often. It was hard to tell sometimes, especially from the back.

"I need you to come to the exam room with me."

"Uh…no."

"What?"

"No. Ask those two, they'll comply." He said, staring her straight in the face and jerking his head in the direction of yami and yuugi, who were sitting idly in each others arms watching Ryou with worried expressions.

"Sorry miss," Yami's voice came, suddenly next to them. "I'll have all of us with you in just a moment, excuse my friend's rudeness."

"Thanks…thank you. I'll get a few extra stretchers set up in the room so you have something to rest on." The nurse said, before scurrying away.

Marik stared with an open mouth at yami, who just sauntered off. If he could just get his hands around that idiots neck…

"Son, son I'm going to need you to clam down!" The male doctor said sternly, his nametag reading 'Kanou utsuruji'.

"Let go of me!" Ryou shouted, sinking his fingernails into the doctors forearms. Utsuruji hissed and grabbed the frantic teen roughly by his shoulders.

"_Listen to me!"_ He roared, shaking Ryou once sharply. His voice resonated throughout the otherwise empty waiting room, stunning Ryou and everyone else for that matter.

"Were here to help you," He began, softer. "I know youre worried about your brother."

Ryou wanted to yell at them that they weren't brothers, it was something way deeper than that. He chose instead to just stare at the man with a stubborn expression.

"So were going to try to keep him alive." He finished, standing with the upset teen.

"As for the rest of you, into the examination room. No whining."

"Who do you think you are?" Malik challenged, crossing his arms over his bare chest.

"Malik, just do what he says." Yami hissed, looking at the blonde with contempt.

"Shut up Atem." Marik said, annoyed to the brink of no return.

"How dare you—"

"HA. SILENCED." Malik laughed, being obnoxiously loud.

"Guys, can't we just get along and do what these nice people are asking of us? They only want to help, and they're here for our benefit. Really, I'm disappointed in everyone's behavior this evening…" Yuugi chastised, quieting the group.

Everyone at that point decided to calm down, the adrenaline from the night finally starting to dissipate.

"Fine, but my bed better be the best out of everyone elses." Marik said tiredly, flipping his hair dramatically to make a point. "I'm high maintenance."

"Ugh…" Bakura groaned, opening his eyes and immediately shutting them when they were bombarded by bright lights. His arm was attached to an IV with a clear liquid pumping through a needle in his thin hand. He sneered at the thin metal rod in his body. Whatever was being fed into him, it sure did sting.

"Hunh, you're awake." Chuckled a deep voice, one that bakura didn't like very much.

"What are you doing here, brat?" Bakura grunted.

"I think the person who's paying for your bill deserves a bit more of a greeting than that, don't you?" Kaiba said coldly.

"No." 

"Well then. And I'm the brat?"

"Why are you paying my bill anyways? I'm not a charity case."

"Well, think of it as—"

"I don't have the energy to think, just tell me." Bakura groaned, letting his eyes close. He really hated the position he was in at the moment. His vision was blurry because he was hopped up on drugs, he had a needle in his hand that kept stabbing him when he moved, and the sheets on the hospital bed were itchy.

"Ugh, you're a waste of my time…" Kaiba concluded, standing from his seat and straightening out his suit.

"Tell me, ra! I'm not in the best mood, if you haven't noticed." Bakura hissed.

"Tch, if you MUST know, this is my hospital. Unfortunately for me, you and your friends decided to cause trouble and the poor sap who schlepped you over here in his less than acceptable transportation dropped you off in one of my family's owned facilities."

"Um, what?"

"This is my property, and since you're on it, you owe me a favor." Kaiba said with an exasperated sigh.

"…Why didn't you just say that…whatever. You need to get laid, kid." Bakura said rolling his eyes and placing his hand on his hip under the white linen he was wrapped in.

"Why do I even try to be civil with you…" Kaiba growled, rubbing his temples. "The point is, youre indebted to me." He said, smirking when bakura's eyes widened.

"What? Knowing you, I'll get charged like 10 times more than what the bill really is!" Bakura protested, sitting up quickly to glare at the grinning teen.

"I didn't say you had to pay with money, which you don't have."

"….Eww, I'm not having sex with you."

"Th-that's not what I meant!" Kaiba shouted, turning his head irately before glaring at the chortling yami. "You're going to pay me back in hard labor!"

"Babies?" Bakura asked, looking confused. "Men can't have babies."

"NO. WORK."

"Oh, that kind. Yeah, whatever. Get out of my room, so I can sleep."

"Is that all? Really? You have no hospitality for your visitors, you know."

"What, do you want a kiss or something?"

"Excuse me?"

"Just saying. It doesn't take an idiot to realize I'm desirable."

"…Well—"

"AHAHAHA, YOU ACTUALLY THOUGHT ABOUT IT? C'MERE SUGAR."

"I really detest you, spirit!" Kaiba shouted, storming out of the hospital room, with a reddened face and little to no patience.

**That's all I had time to type, sorry gais. But yeah, the second part had a bit of a lighter tone to it than most of the other chapters, and it had a lot of dialogue between characters. I'm going to make it all serious for you guys again, don't sweat it! And the Kaiba and Bakura thing, I realized is absolutely entertaining to write about. I already have ideas swimming around about their next encounter, which of course would be bakura paying out his debts. This is going to be a very long ongoing story, if you haven't realized by now LOL. After all of the SRRS BZNS PLZ stuff is out of the way, I can start writing silly stories with akefia in it :D Because this story is actually a gigantic prelude to anything that had to relate to akefia. I'll explain it next part of this chapter, I don't want the author's thing to be too long!**


	10. IMPORTANT NOTICE ONE 1111SHIFT

STORY NOTICE

This story is officially on Hiatus until further notice. I should've put this up in around October, but I was a bit busy with other stuff :/

It's by no means discontinued, but it's definitely on Hiatus. I don't think I could ever really discontinue this fic, it's my baby.

If you are mildly interested, you can follow my Tumblr to see what's going on with me and such (I don't know why you'd be interested but feel free to follow or just take a peek, My blog is mostly hetalia and YuGiOh, coupled with literally a hodge-podge of random stuff)

But yes, I have the 9th and 10th chapters typed but I got a new laptop and I need to get a flashdrive to transport the chapters from our desktop to my personal computer so I can ACTUALLY PUBLISH IT DFMSFVLJDVLJV LDSV.

No one reads this story anymore anywhoo, so if you're still interested go ahead and PM me or Follow my tumblr

Windferret dot tumblr dot com


	11. CHAPTER 9

Ryou sipped idly on an apple juice that a passing nurse gave him as he sat in the lobby tensely. Yami, who had allowed the pale teen to sleep over at his house for the time being, stared out of the window at the passing cars in the moist and inky blackness of the evening. He didn't really want to be there. He thought Bakura was a horrid influence on the white haired sophomore, and he wanted nothing more than the dark entity to be out of his life. But Yami, who was a very intelligent person, knew he wouldn't be able to do so without manipulation. He glanced over at Ryou, who was twiddling his thumbs about. He honestly worried about him. Ryou was so forgiving of that monster everyone called Bakura after everything that demon put him through. What he put everyone else through. It made his blood boil. After about five minutes of glancing to the window and to Ryou, he saw the thin teen shift in his seat and take a breath, preparing to speak.

"Um, Th-thank you for coming Atem…Yami." He stuttered, offering a small smile to make up for his awkward beginning. Ryou twiddled more fervently. He wished it was Marik sitting with him, because at least then he'd be comfortable and not feel any sort of irrational guilt for dragging him out on a cold night. Unfortunately, said person was at home cleaning at hyper speed to prepare for his sisters surprise visit, and he had to take extra time to train Malik not to be obnoxious. So naturally, Ryou was too afraid to take the trip by himself and stupidly invited his Yami's most hated individual.

"It's a pleasure to be here with you, Bakura." Yami said, intentionally calling Ryou by his last name.

Ryou frowned slightly at the odd way the name sounded in allusion to himself. Shaking his head at the absurd thought of changing his name to just Ryou, he stood stiffly and went to inform the front desk of his visitation. After a brief conversation, Ryou waved at Yami, who would catch up later, and pulled on the doorknob that lead into the main corridors of the building.

Ryou nibbled his lip nervously as he walked down the white halls towards the elevator that would take him to the pediatrics wing of the hospital. It was odd, he thought. After everything he and Bakura had been through with each other, or heck, the things that they'd done to each other, they were still considered pediatrics. Bakura. Ryou hadn't seen or spoken to the spirit in a stable state in days, and he was afraid to know how he'd react. The ping of the elevator reaching it's destination pulled him from his thoughts, and the doors opened slowly to reveal a retina burning slew of color. Ryou curled his lip and wrinkled his nose at the pungent smell of alcohol and medicine that flooded his nostrils. Portholes and fishing nets decorated the walls, and pictures of various fish were speckled about. Overhead, small plastic sea creatures dangled and swayed, creating the illusion of swimming. A pirate held up a saber with a large grin and stood with one leg propped upon a keg, with a bright green bird protruding from a peephole in the wooden cylinder. In the painted water was an entire ecosystem of plants and animals, all with smiles and bright twinkling eyes. A dolphin was propelling itself into the air, while a turtle floated along with a current. Ryou hated all of it. The pediatrics wing was easily the saddest level in the hospital, a place where children and teens struggled for their lives. The ceiling ornaments and intricate mural only served to distract them from their debilitating illnesses, and the smiling nurses instilled false hope in the dying victims. Future leaders, inventers, and adventurers died here; and every single one of them have laid eyes upon a bright wall decoration before they finally shut their eyes for the last time. The sea creatures mocked them as the dying children were wheeled away, reminding them of their life prior to their admittance and distracting them from their imminent death. Loved ones would peer into the beady eyes of a seahorse mural and just for a moment be so intrigued by its complexity that they would forget what they even came for. Why they were there. Who surrounded them. Ryou remembered with contempt for himself, being one of those that were enamored with the decorations of a Pediatric wing corridor.

_He rumpled his eyebrows confusedly as his father tugged him along, whose palms were cold and sweaty. Ryou remmebered hearing his dad say something about cars and his sister, but at the moment he was completely taken by a sculpture near the middle of the hall. It was a strange oblong shape with a white wire trailing from the bottom. Was it a balloon? What was it? He wanted to know the answer very badly, and he was slightly annoyed that his dad wouldn't let him go look at it. Why was everything about Amane anyways? She always got the attention at home, what was so important now? His gaze was ripped from the sculpture as his dad scooped him up and quickened his pace, as the little whitehead wasn't moving quickly enough. He couldn't really get a good enough focus on the wall murals, which were bright depictions of bi-planes and pilots with goggles and scarves. _

"_Daddy?"_

_He went unanswered, and therefore decided to pout. His millenium ring bounced up and down as his father jogged and turned corners, entrancing him further than any of the planes are balloons. He didn't like the feeling the strange piece of jewelry gave him, and he furrowed his eyebrows slightly. He felt lightheaded when he looked directly at it. Something about the eye in the middle bothered him extensively. There was something hostile and foreboding about the way the dangly bits tinkered, and how it reflected light. The very center of the eye seemed abysmally dark, no matter how close you held it to the light. Dark, endless. Hatred. Fear. Rage? Why did he feel those things when he looked at the ring?_

_Suddenly he felt very cold and stiff. His vision went out of focus for a moment, and he was scarcely aware of his current surroundings as he felt the corners of his lips pull up . It wasn't a smile. It was a sort of grimace, a malicious sneer. The ring tinkled at him as he stared into the center, still wearing the frightening smirk. His vision went black for a moment and his mind was bombarded by a mixture of different images and memories. The one that stuck out the most though terrifed him to the very fiber of his being. _

_He remembered walking with Amane earlier that afternoon from the toy shop. They went together because she was upset that their father brought ryou home a gift instead of her that time, and she wouldn't stop crying._

"_Here, take your sister to go get something nice from the store." His mom said, handing him a fistful of money and turning back to her laptop, which was open to a real estate website. They were planning a trip back to Europe to see family that summer, and his dad cancelled work and all of the lot. _

"_But mommy—"_

"_Ryou, not now alright? Mommy is busy."_

_His mind took him back to the sidewalk, and amane went on about how much she loved her new doll. _

"_Big brother?"_

"_Yes, amane?"_

"_My dolly needs a necklace. Can I have yours?"_

_Normally he shared everything with her, including his favorite action figures and favorite shirts and such. Although he was the older sibling, and a boy at that, he was very small, to the point where they could fit each other's clothes. They were alike in every other way, even in the face. People picked on Ryou at school for how starkly similar he looked to his little sister, calling him a girly boy and pulling on his snow white hair. He never payed attention to them though, despite all of the torment h received for his looks. He loved amane, and was glad to resemble someone he loved. They had their mother's hair, platinum and silky. It was something he was born with, and couldn't change. He was glad his little sister had hair like his too, so that when he played with her he didn't feel ostracized or different;_

_They were the same. _

_But his ring; He wanted it all for himself. He shared everything with his sister, and that was the only thing that he had that was uniquely his. No one else in school had one, no one else in the house had one, it was his and only his. He didnt anyone saying 'That's amane's necklace your wearing, you're such a girl!'. It was Ryou's necklace. _

"…_No. It's mine." He said, narrowing his eyes at amane, who in turn narr__owed hers back defiantly. _

"_I want it!" She said, snatching it and running off. "Nyeh nyeh can't catch me!"_

"_Stop it!" He cried, catching up to her after a quick dash. She wriggled around and turned in different directions, holding it away from him._

"_You can't have it!" She said, accidentally letting it go. It fell to the ground with a resounding metallic twang, and the metal had a small scratch in it. _

_Ryou felt a sudden anger rush into him, a white hot boiling rage that he had never felt before. Quite frankly it scared him immensely. It didn't feel like a human type of anger, one that was quenchable. This feeling was inhuman._

_Demonic. _

_His hand shot out, grabbing a fistful of her hair roughly_

"_Ow! Big brother stop!" she whimpered, trying to pry his hand out unsuccessfully. "I'm sorry!"_

"_H-here! I'll pick it up for you..!" She sniffled, her face red and tear stained._

"_**It's mine.**__" Ryou said, or growled rather. __It was an animalistic, guttural sound that a normal six year old wouldn't be able to make themselves. He yanked yanked his younger sister up by the hair, staring her in the face with red, red eyes. Red like the color of blood, red like the color of anger and violence. The bleating sound of a car horn caught his attention briefly, and he turned and smirked at his squirming sister. It wasn't a smile either of them were familiar with. He glanced over into the road and heard his mother yell something at them, and speed down the road towards them to berate the young children on their behavior._

"_Ryou…?" she whimpered, staring into those menacing eyes that didn't beling to her brother. She saw something inhuman in them, and her own eyes widened to that of saucers._

"_You shouldn't play in the street." _

"_What—"_

_Screech!_

_Crash!_

_BOOM!_

_._

_._

_._

_._

_._

_._

_Ryou blinked and the scene dispersed immediately. No more screaming, no more popping and searing flesh. He couldn't see it anymore, and he didn't want to._

_They were in the hospital because of him?_

"_Doctor?" His dad asked, frantic. He set ryou down on the ground a little too quickly and the small child lost his balance, plopping down on his bottom. The rough landing went unnoticed by the white head, as he was beginning to lose the little color he had in his face._

"_Sir, please calm down! There was nothing we could do!" A nurse said, tears in her eyes._

"_Their bodies were almost unrecognizable by the time we got to the scene sir—"_

"_Let me see them."_

"_But sir—"_

"_Let me see my wife and child goddammit!" He roared, snatching the doctor up by his collar. "Please…!" tears streamed down his face almost endlessly._

_Ryou watched his father cry with wide eyes and began to shake._

_This was his fault…?_

"_You're my master, and mine only. You belong to me." A voice in his head Whispered._

As he walked slowly past the turtles and dolphins, denouncing the recollection of something too far in the past to worry about at the moment, he peered into an open room door, with a few doctors and one security guard inside. A tiny crib was visible in between the white jackets and various bodies standing in front of it. No sound came from the lilac crib.

"Ma'am…" The head doctor said gravely, turning to a disgruntled young woman with tears and mascara staining her puffy and reddened face. Her eyes widened and she stood quickly, the chair she was seated on falling over.

"You've killed my baby!" She screeched, slamming her purse onto the floor and lunging at whoever was nearest to her. "You killed her!" She shoved the security officer off to the side and tried to reach the nurses as they tried wheel the corpse away, but was caught in the end. She kicked and screamed, flailing her legs despite her wearign a very short dress. Her blonde hair went in all directions as she shook and fought with the staff who were trying to console her.

Ryou just stood out in the hall, frozen in place to the scene. He winced when he heard someone get kicked in the stomach.

"G-grab her!" The victim choked out, clutching his side. The young woman burst out of the room in almost a full tilt sprint, her dead child in hand.

"Oh!" Ryou yelped as she slammed into him, throwing herself and him to the ground with the velocity of a sprots player's tackle. The child was flung from her arms somewhere over a pair of seats by the wall, soundless and lifeless as it flew through the air, and it hit the ground with a revolting smack. She looked at Ryou with a blank expression and smiled at him as two men in white scrubs snatched her away roughly, cuffing her hands behind her back with a special clasp. He sat on the ground, petrified. He hated the pediatric wing. Future adventurers, explorers—

"They'll kill someone you love too! They'll leave them to die! DIE!" She screamed as they whipped out a needle and jabbed it into her side. She was silent after a few seconds.

Ryou stared, wide eyed and frightened as they dragged her limp body over to a gurney and whe,led her off. He wasn't sure how long he sat there, but they let him stay anyways.

"Excuse me, dear. Were you going to visit someone here?" A personnel member asked, reaching her hand out and helping him up.

"Y…Yes…"

"I'm so sorry you had to see that. It happens a lot on this floor, mothers aching over the death of their child. They've closed off the area where the baby's body is…"

"I'd like to see brother please, if you don't mind." He replied, his voice falling flat and his eyes unreadable. He hated the pediatrics wing.

Ryou pulled back the curtain belonging to Bakura's room tentatively. After the dislpay he had just seen, even a simple task such as this was frightening. For all he knows, Bakura couldve bled to death as soon as they had gotten him stabalized. No, they wouldve told him, and he wouldve reacted the same as the dead baby's mother. His face paled a bit when he saw neatly folded sheets and no one in them.

"Guh!" He shrieked as a passing man carrying green scrubs covered in blood turned to him with a smile. He trembled and raked his fingers through his hair as he pictured bakura's lifeless body on some examination table, surgeons stapling him back together and calling up a taxidermist . His imagination at this point was on cloud nine.

"S-sir are you alright?" The worried young doctor's assistant stammered, his eyes wide. That was a strange kid if he'd ever seen one. The boy's hair was stark white, and he had crazed looking mocha colored eyes, and was as pale as a sheet of paper. Must be a ward patient, he concluded. No one this strange could be sane. "Ah, are you lost? Do you want me to take you back to your room?" He asked, saying his words slowly as if to a small child.

"What? No!" Ryou exclaimed, stomping his foot. "Tell me, where's the boy who was in this room? Where is he?"

"What boy? Who are you talking about?" The young nurse said, taking a step towards ryou who in turn took three steps back.

"Don't be afraid, I'm going to help you..." He said, pulling off his gloves and disposing of them. Ryou noticed him take a short needle out of his back pocket.

"What're you doing?" Ryou uttered shakily, looking for a way out but noticing that he had backed into Bakura's empty hospital room.

"Stay still!" The nurse grunted, shoving Ryou onto the bed roughly and reaching for his needle, which by the labeling was a sedative. His muscles were taught and hard, ryou noticed as he tried to push the man off, grabbing at his arms. He was obviously fit, and probably lifted weights. Or pinned people down as a daily workout, because he was damn skilled at it. He held Ryou down with one arm and put his weight on him and uncapped the needle, which while short, was sharp and thick. It looked like a tiny dagger, and Ryou couldnt stand needles to begin with. The nurse, who's ID coincidentally read 'Ken' breathed heavily with the energy it was taking him to restrain the flailing white head. Ryou didnt like this crazed medical worker's name at all. It was too similar to another name he didnt like. "Quit fighting me!"

"Stop! Help!" Ryou screamed, flashbacks nearly crippling him. Here he was, shouting for help, laying under another man, and bakura wasnt there. Tears gushed involuntarily and he just stopped struggling all together. It made things less difficult, he remembered his attacker saying before he was brutally done away with. "Get off of me!" He yelled once more, just to get it out of his system. He bucked his hips as hard as he could and ended up bumping the nurse's arm right as he brought the sharp needle to his arm.

"Crap, you made me miss-oh, shit!" The young and rather brusque medical worker cursed when he noticed a small gash in his new patients arm, bleeding profusely. He hadnt brought his brute strength into account, or the boys lack thereof. When the skinny teen had lurched upwards, Ken's arm went plowing into Ryou's and when he tried to get up all he did was pull the needle downwards, creating a very non uniform slash, right next to another jagged scar already on the boy's milky arm. The syringe was empty, so apparently the sedative was in. It struck him odd though that the boy was bleeding so heavily though, and he panicked. He was an intern, an intern who was just trying to get some extra points in by helping a patient back to their room and ended up marring their arm, but an intern no less.

"A-are you okay? I didnt mean to do that, I just wanted to get you back to your ward where it was safe!"

"I'm not in a ward!" Ryou growled, his face paler than it should be and his words slurred. He tried standing, but crumpled to his knees clutching his heavily bleeding arm. His breathing had become a bit ragged, and he glared up at the wanna be helper. This too, brought back memories, but ones further back into his mind. Battle city. He glanced over and smirked, if thats what one could call it. It was really close to his other recovered injury. How Ironic, he thought as he moved his hand away from the seeping wound to peek at the already healed one right above it. He hoped at least this new cut didn't scar. That aside, he felt horrible. His underlying medical condition coupled with the strong sedative the dunce doctor in training drugged him with made him dizzy and tired and a little bit loopy.

"Ahaha..." He giggled in spite of himself. "Lucky me, I'm dying in a hospital...! Wait for me Bakura, hm?" He drawled, with a purely medication induced smile. He thought he was going to die on this hospital floor, and he thought Bakura was already dead. The funny part, he thought, was that he probably wouldn't go to heaven anyways. Irony was all around him today.

"What the hell is going on in here?" A voice sounding similar to the bleeding whiteheads asked, his question almost dripping with malice and anger. It dared someone to provide an answer it didn't want. It was a powerful and chilling voice.

"Baku..." Ryou slurred before tilting his head back, letting out a sigh of relief and closing his eyes.

"Ugh! I can't even take a freaking piss without something happening!" Bakura groaned,rolling his eyes and focusing his tired rage onto the male nurse, who was more terrified at the fact that he was seeing double than why the nicer seeming one was still bleeding.

"Youre the boy he was talking about-"

"The fuck did you do?" Bakura roared, throwing himself into a fit of coughs. His doctor told him he had pneumonia on top of everything else going on, which didnt make him any happier. It made him cough harder, if anything.

"I was just trying to help, and I slipped and-"

"Whatever I don't care! You'd better get someone, the little bastard is a hemophiliac. Type O positive, and hurry the hell up." Bakura grunted, stepping over ryou who was slumped over on the floor. He stared at his blood soaked bed, and smirked with hollow eyes just like how ryou had before. There was something nostalgic in the floor slick with blood, and ryou pale and in danger. It made him sick.

"Get me some new sheets too, huh?"

"Marik, my little brother!" Ishizu said gleefully, dragging the blonde into a busty embrace. Marik muttered a simple 'Hi' as he tried to pry his face from in between his sisters boobs. It was weird; when he was younger he hadn't noticed how massive they were. He just assumed they were all like that, But he figured it out when he moved to Japan during battle city.

His sister was must be a mutant.

"Nice to see you master Marik." Odion said with a smile, pulling him away from Ishizu with a chuckle. Marik smiled back, but tilted his head upwards when he realized he was smiling at odion's rib cage. Was everyone this freaky when he last saw them a year and a half ago? Did odion grow? Or did he just shrink? He probably shrank just now, what with ishizu's monster breasts sucking the life out of him.

"It's just Marik, Big brother." Marik said nonchalantly, but he puffed his chest out a bit. It had been a while since he was called 'Master' by anyone. "Want some coffee?" He asked, strutting into the kitchen and flipping his hair.

"Since when do you drink coffee?" Ishizu asked incredulously, Odion nodding in agreement.

"Oh, well I mean I don't really like it that much, but Mal-" He said, cutting himself off when the beginning of his Yami's name floated out of his mouth. Ishizu and Odion visibly stiffened and their gazes became hard at the exact same time.

"M-my friend MALORY, likes coffee. Because she's...American. And Americans like...Coffee." He said, blinking his eyes innocently. Here goes nothing, he thought. Play the little brother card in defense mode.

"Malory? What a nice name." Ishizu said warmly, defrosting the entire room. She fell for it hook line and sinker! Odion on the other hand stared straight at him, his eyes unblinking. Knowing. Laser beam shooting, Marik thought, if he tried hard enough.

"Yeah, I know." Marik said, suddenly getting the urge to pee. "Will you excuse me for a second? Stay right there, I'll give you a tour of the house in a second." He smiled, speed walking into the bathroom and slamming the door.

A few minutes later, he walked out of the bathroom with a sigh, no longer in danger of pissing himself. He met two pairs of ferocious eyes staring into his confused pair, and tilted his head to the side. There, Yuugi stood in a corner looking guilty.

"Hi yuugi! What's with the long fa- Fuck-PHARAOH!" Marik exclaimed, tripping and stumbling over his words as Atem stepped out from behind Ishizu and Malik walked out of his bedroom in his duck pajamas rubbing his eyes and yawning at the same time.

"Marik..." Ishizu hissed.

"So, how about that tour?" Marik whimpered helplessly. He was going to have a lot of explaining to do.

Bakura glared at the ceiling of his room, which was beginning to feel like a prison. He wasn't that worried about ryou as much as he was worried about that nurse who turned psycho. As soon as he was feeling better, he'd show that guy a thing or two about blood…

With an unceremonious grunt, Bakura sat up and stretched, careful not to agitate his recovering wound. It was strange, really. His memory was fuzzy, but he could remember one thing for certain; the screams of a man who's soul was being ripped from his very being. He hadn't heard that in a while, he noted with a slight raise of his eyebrows. The memory sent shivers down his spine, tingly and almost pleasurable. Another memory, this time of the man's face, who he also now knew was Tsukoshi's. It was twisted in agony as the shadows devoured him, and the recollection of the joy it gave him sent another sensation down his back, this one stronger.

"Hn…" He groaned, sitting up straight. He didn't exactly hate the feeling, but it was making him a bit wary. Bakura glanced around the room, making sure no one was rubbing his back for whatever reason. Nothing interesting caught his eye, and he sat back against the raised part of the hospital bed. He sighed as he toyed with the controls of the bed, raising the elevation of his feet in boredom. He didn't want to admit it, really he didn't, but he missed interacting with the strange dream child. He gave him something to hold his attention, talking to the boy or trying not to be killed by him, which essentially kept him entertained. It wasn't like he had friends to strike up conversations with, and when no one wanted to be around you because they thought you were a monster, well, it was a tad difficult making friends. To keep himself from dying of boredom rather than his injuries and a nagging case of early pneumonia, Bakura thought back to seeing ryou on the floor a few minutes ago. It was staggering how many things have changed, and how many things have stayed the same. The cut on Ryou's arm reminded Bakura of how close to death he had brought his hikari during battle city. Back then he hadn't known the teen was a hemophiliac, and the gouge he slashed into his arm wasn't supposed to do as much damage as it was supposed to be a distraction. If Bakura hadn't switched places with Ryou before Yami's attack hit, he would've died and Bakura would've been unable to enact his plan of revenge on Yami. What was he seeking vengeance for, anyways? Although he couldn't remember, it infuriated him that Ryou was so weak sometimes. His frailty could've cost them both their lives, in that instance and in the instance with tsukoshi. Ryou has stayed the same, he concluded. Weak and useless.

Another shudder graced the whitehead's spine, and this time he caught on. He glanced over at the Millenium ring, which was looking a bit more luminescent than before he had that thought.

"It's you, isn't it?" Bakura said to the ring, picking it up and examining it. "Who are you?"

He turned it over in his hands a few times before setting it down on his lap and rolling his eyes. Maybe these pain killers and antibiotics were really getting to him. He let his eyes slide close and tried to concentrate on sleeping, which was a little uncomfortable since his feet were up so high.

"Stupid bed…" He grumbled as he searched the blankets for the multipurpose remote that served as a TV clicker and a bed adjustment control. This tiny amount of time allowed his thoughts to wander freely again, and this time he thought about the dreams which had stop reoccurring so frequently. He felt like they meant something, but as hard as he tried he really couldn't remember why they were so important. Furrowing his eyebrows and pinching his forehead, he dragged himself back into the desert that first night and went over every detail he could recall. Little boy, fire, screaming people, pot of death. None of these things seemed like they were making sense, so he squeezed his eyes shut to concentrate even harder. Nothing. Where was his stupid hikari? The fact that Ryou was laid up in some room getting pampered by a bunch of nurses instead of paying him any attention pissed Bakura off and he stuck out his bottom lip in a pout. He wished he had the energy to storm out of the room to yell at the teen, to get it through to him that he didn't like being ignored. He could see it now; he'd hop out of bed and not even bother putting on socks, because he didn't care about what his nurses told him and how his pneumonia would get worse. He'd barge into the room right as Ryou woke up and shout at the top of his lungs about how much he hated him and how negligent he was. Yes, he thought, his eyes would fill with tears and he'd beg him to stop yelling, but then he'd only get louder and maybe throw something at him with a snide smirk. A genuine sneer crawled across bakura's face as he thought of how terrified Ryou would be. He'd fear him once again, he thought, when all of a sudden a barrage of sensations traveled throughout his body, the epicenter being of course where he had laid the ring, which was his lap.

"Ah!" He breathed as he involuntarily arched his back, his eyes flying open. _That_ was _very _pleasurable. He peered at the ring, which had a glow to it. Was he doing that, or what? It occurred to him that the ring only did that when he thought of Ryou. More specifically, harming or scaring Ryou.

"Wh-what the hell…" He stuttered as he slid the ring away from his crotch and laid it on his abdomen, eyeing it suspiciously. What was happening? As a small experiment, Bakura used his imagination. He thought of how he sometimes hit ryou out of frustration or just for the sake of hearing him cry…

"Nnngh!" He moaned as a delightful feeling skirted about his chest and zoomed up and down his spine. Okay, he thought. Something was wrong about this. As that last inquiry passed his mind, he suddenly became very sluggish and could barely keep his eyes open.

"Who…?" He slurred, closing his eyes completely.

"You." Answered a satisfied voice in the darkness.

You thought this was never going to get updated again didn't you.

**Are you guys even OUT there anymore?**

**But yes, after a very long break I finally finished the ninth chapter, on a cliffhanger no doubt.**

**Yes, I AM an asshole. **

**A lot of stuff happened in this chapter, besides Bakura getting' jiggy with the ring.**

**One, we looked into Ryou's past a little bit more, **

**Two, a dead baby got thrown across a room,**

**Three, Malik isnt a secret anymore, **

**And four, Ryou got stabbed in the arm by a doctor who awkwardly reminded him of some crazy psycho rapist yakuza thug, and he's probably schizophrenic now.**

**Oh, and some of you may have noticed I didn't use his ACTUAL blood type.**

**It's a fanfiction, I can change it to whatever I'd like (Code for I was too lazy to look it up and it's a minor detail anyways). **

**NO QUESTIONS?**

**If you guys don't review I'm going to assume you're all dead and the story should die too so review before I kill it. **

**-Windy**


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